Chapter 1335 A Contest of Wills

Chapter 1335 A Contest of Wills

Chapter 1335 A Contest of Wills

There were continuous "boom" sounds, and the iron-clad wooden door made a teeth-grinding creaking sound.

The soldiers made loud "Puh, Puh" sounds and large amounts of dust fell on their heads, as if the collision just now had even knocked out years of accumulated dust in the cracks in the wall.

The sound of arrows kept coming from overhead, landing on the shields with a "thump thump". The swordsmen and card players gritted their teeth and held on, trying their best to create a relatively safe space.

"Hey, ho!" The Ding Zhuang people inside the belly of the ram roared in unison and pushed the huge log forward with force.

"Boom!" The log hit the outer door of the city wall hard, making another loud noise.

Suddenly, there was a rattling sound on the top of the circular city wall. The sword players felt a chill in their hearts, and the experienced ones showed a look of despair.

With a series of "splashing" sounds, countless barrels of sticky oily substances flowed down the edge of the shield and gradually gathered into a pool of water.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Several rockets fell and immediately caused a raging fire outside the city.

The sword and shield soldiers could no longer hold on. They rolled on the ground screaming, trying to put out the fire on their bodies, but it was no use. Instead, the fire grew more and more intense. Gradually, all that could be seen was a large group of fire men jumping and dancing miserably.

The battering ram was also set on fire.

The Ding Zhuang in the belly of the cart was panicked and rushed out one after another. Without the protection of the sword and shield men, the enemy soldiers above the city wall leisurely drew out arrows and shot them all to death.

On the west side of the burning city wall, a number of ladder carts were parked at the foot of the city, with ladders extending from the belly of the carts slanting upwards.

The attackers tried to grab the battlements with hooks on the top of the ladders, while the defenders tried to chop them open with swords and axes.

The front of the flying ladder was covered with iron sheets, and sparks flew when it was chopped. Soldiers wearing heavy armor stepped on the flying ladder and rushed to the top of the city.

The Xianbei soldiers on the city wall lined up in neat rows and stabbed with their spears.

There are also those who have extraordinary arm strength. They hold strong bows in their hands, stand high above, pull the bow to a full moon, and shoot repeatedly at close range.

The soldiers attacking the city were hit by many arrows and groaned continuously, but they still fought on despite their injuries and rushed to the top of the city wall desperately.

"Bang!" A huge axe chopped down with force, and the ladder, which had been destroyed for a long time and could not bear the weight, suddenly broke, and the Liang army soldiers standing on it fell down like dumplings under the city.

Everyone on the city wall shouted in unison and poured down a vat of boiling manure water. The Liang army soldiers below the city covered their heads and fled. Their shrill screams after being scalded could not even cover up the sound of killing on the battlefield. It was really horrifying.

"Swoosh! Whoosh!" Several soldiers came down from the city, pulled out long arrows and shot repeatedly.

The defenders who were about to pour the second pot of manure water also screamed in pain, and two of them fell down one after another.

"Crash!" The water tank rolled over and shattered.

The boiling manure water gushed out, causing bursts of exclamations.

"Patta! Patta!" A team of Xianbei swordsmen and archers rushed over. They stepped on the slippery feces and endured the pungent smell. They shot from a high position and forced back several Liang army archers. The two slowest runners were nailed to the ground.

"Get out of the way!" Someone brought rosin and vegetable oil and poured them directly on the ladder vehicle, and then shot out rockets.

The ladder truck was covered with skin and was not easy to ignite. However, under the continuous destruction, it eventually ignited thick smoke, followed by flames. The flying vehicle that could accommodate seventy or eighty people was engulfed in a sea of ​​fire.

"Come again!" Muyu Gen, who was standing on the South City Tower, subconsciously slapped the railing and shouted loudly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the city wall shook again.

Mu Yugen cursed. He knew that it was the Liang people's artillery carts that were throwing stones. It was not a big threat, but it was just annoying.

This thing can't hit far or high. If it was a low city, it might be hit into the city by the stone bullets. But Ji City is relatively high, so there is no such concern. What's more, they have hung a lot of wet curtains on the top of the city to cushion the possible stone bullets and block arrows.

The biggest threat to Jicheng is actually the flying ladder vehicles. Unlike ordinary ladders, they are huge vehicles with soldiers hidden inside. They are pushed close to the city wall, and the ladders extend out from the doors of the vehicles and hang directly on the city wall.

When the soldiers climbed up from the belly of the chariot and then charged on ladders, they themselves were not much lower than the city wall, so they could charge and attack fiercely. The defenders paid a huge price to stop the Liang people's offensive.

We have to find a way to attack and destroy this flying ladder. If possible, we also have to destroy the artillery vehicles, trench filling vehicles and other things one by one, so that the Liang people can continue to spend their energy to build them.

As I was daydreaming, there was a panic on the western city wall.

Muyu Gen turned his head and saw that the Liang soldiers in the ladder vehicles were blocked, but a group of Liang people who were climbing up the ladders to attack the city rushed to the top of the city, which almost made him angry.

Fortunately, there were reinforcements on the city wall and they were quickly mobilized. After a fierce battle, they finally cut the ladders and threw all the Liang people who were climbing up below to the ground.

Muyu Gen breathed a sigh of relief.

The Liang soldiers who came up were very brave, well-equipped, and very skilled in the conflict. Compared with them, the defenders seemed stupid. Once they were approached, their spears were useless and they were soon at a loss. In the end, they relied on their numbers to bully the few and suppressed the Liang people's attempt to break through.

Thinking of this, Mu Yugen's face turned unhappy. He immediately went down the city wall and inspected the area that was almost breached.

******
On the wall inside the city, a large group of Hu and Han soldiers were sitting on the ground. Some of them had retreated from the top of the city to change guards, while others had just been conscripted and had not had time to go up to the top of the city to die.

"Black Pig, I've been sitting under the city for a long time. I've heard the sound of killing twice, so close that it seemed to be right next to my ear. Another time, I saw two people falling from above into the city. Tell me the truth, can this city be defended?" someone asked.

The man he called "Black Pig" was a Wuhuan. He had been fighting on the top of the city for a long time and finally waited for the opportunity to rotate. When he heard his neighbor asking this, he did not hide it. He leaned close to his ear and whispered, "The Liang people have silver helmets and silver armored warriors who are very brave. They often wait until our army is exhausted and suddenly rush out to try to seize the top of the city. If you meet such people, don't rush up foolishly, let others go first. If there is a chance to drive this group of Liang people off the city, you can help and stab them with your spear from behind. If you need to fight desperately to drive them off, you can - do it yourself."

"How brave are these people?" the neighbor asked, swallowing.

Black Pig recalled and sighed, "Let me put it this way. I have seen blood and killed people before, so ordinary bandits can't scare me. But these silver-armored Liang soldiers give me the feeling that their hands are very fast and very accurate. If they hold swords and shields, they can step forward, press with shields, and behead in one go. If they hold spears, you won't have time to think about how to deal with them before the spears are already coming at your face."

At this point, he looked at his neighbor and said, "I think if you meet a thief, you will probably be clumsy and will be defeated in one encounter. The silver-armored soldiers of Liang are well-trained. They have practiced the action of stabbing with a spear countless times. When fighting, they don't even need to think about it. They just raise their hands and stab, quickly and accurately. If you want to reach their level of skills, you must first have someone to provide you with food and drink, then practice hard for ten or eight years, and then go into battle a few times, and that will be enough."

"How is this kind of person different from a heavenly soldier?" the neighbor said with a pale face.

Black Pig pointed to a pool of blood not far away and said, "Two people fell from the top of the city wall and landed on the streets inside the city. You know where they have rushed to. It's just that they were outnumbered and two fists could not beat four hands. In the end, they were driven off the top of the city wall by people who outnumbered them several times. Otherwise, there would be more bodies falling down."

When the two were talking, others who were close by were also eavesdropping. After hearing it, everyone was as sad as if they had lost their parents. Most of them were servants of the big families in the city. Being lackeys to bully the people was okay, but if they had to fight with real swords and guns, they would be terrified.

Therefore, the rotating troops cannot be composed entirely of these newcomers. There must be some veteran soldiers like Black Pig mixed in, otherwise it will be easy for them to scatter.

Several horse-drawn carriages were coming from a distance, loaded with baked flatbread and cheese.

Most of the drivers were healthy women, and those distributing water were the elderly and children. After unloading the food, they took away nearly ten wounded soldiers, and no one knew where they were going.

But there were more than ten wounded soldiers. As far as Black Pig could see, there were dozens of them lying there.

Someone's injuries were not serious and he had already bandaged himself. Now he was leaning against the wall with a dazed look on his face.

Some people were seriously injured but could not die. They just groaned in pain, which was very distressing.

Some of the injured lay on the ground motionless, and they were too lazy to even drive away the flies flying around them.

The cruelty of war is evident from this. Both the attacking and defending sides are enduring endless pain. It just depends on who can't bear it anymore.

"Boom!" A loud noise came from the nearby city wall again.

Some of the more elite soldiers immediately stood up and entered the soldier cave under the leadership of the officers.

The black pig didn't even bother to look at it, and just grabbed a cold pancake and started to gnaw on it.

Even if I'm going to die tomorrow, I have to eat enough today...

******
As the sun set, the attacks in the north and south of the city were the first to stop.

They were just feinting to attract the enemy's attention. Now that the troops had been called off, they naturally did not want to fight anymore and retreated in a swarm.

At this time, the north gate of Jicheng was wide open, and hundreds of armored soldiers rushed out, chasing after the Liang army, hacking and killing them until they were met with oncoming arrows.

There was no movement in the south of the city, and the attacking army withdrew smoothly.

After the attacks in these two places stopped, the offensive in the west of the city also stopped, and Li Chong also walked down from the high platform.

Today was the first large-scale siege, with a three-sided siege. A total of more than 10,000 troops were mobilized, with more than 3,000 casualties, and no results were achieved.

The city of Ji is still very solid, tall and large, and its defenses are well-established. A forceful attack would indeed cost a considerable price in casualties. In the next few days, we can reduce the intensity of the siege appropriately, paralyze the defenders a little, and then launch a large-scale night attack to see if we can succeed.

If it really doesn't work, we can only dig a tunnel, but this is not particularly reliable and the success rate is very average. We can only try all means.

Before today, the army had been building fortifications, digging trenches, and erecting earth walls. Doors were opened at intervals on the earth walls to facilitate the entry and exit of the siege soldiers, and also to serve as a defense. At least it was difficult for the enemy cavalry to launch an assault from this direction. The infantry had to destroy the earth wall and fill the trenches first, and the cavalry could rush out through the gap. However, there was a second trench behind the first trench and earth wall, which was not so easy.

When it was about to get dark, Li Zhong took a last look at the young men who were carrying soil to build a high platform, and ordered them to be served some wine and food as a reward.

The earthen platform is very labor-intensive to build, but it is very useful once it is built.

Normally, when attacking a city, archers shoot from the bottom up, and the enemy army is at a great advantage from a high position. But when the high platform is built, not only do archers no longer have the height disadvantage, but they can even push crossbow carts up there and shoot crossbow arrows at the top of the city.

Maybe not many enemy soldiers can be killed at one time, but over time, the accumulated amount becomes very significant.

Just think about it, the soldiers and civilians in the city were walking on the streets, and were killed and injured by arrows from time to time. How much damage would this do to their morale?

With all these means at his disposal, Li Chong didn't believe that he couldn't take the city.

After dinner, he rode his horse to the newly built camp in the north of the city for inspection under the protection of his personal soldiers, without stopping for a moment.

When the war enters this stage, it becomes a test of wills.

(End of this chapter)