Chapter 846 Fuel
It is night on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, and the Morning Cow and the Weaver Girl meet in the Tianhe River.
That is a heavenly thing.
On the ground, the Jin army suddenly launched an attack, which was quite surprising.
In the open space south of Pingcheng City, three earth platforms rose from the ground. More than a thousand infantry archers quickly climbed to the top of the platform, picked up their bows and arrows, and shot into the city. Occasionally, the loud sound of some crossbow machines can be heard from the high platform.
Thanks to their efforts, the place where the lights gathered at the top of the city soon became filled with screams, and the guards fled for cover.
After a long time, some tribal chiefs came forward, organized archers to fight back, and fired at the Jin army archers on the platform.
Feng Bachi stood under one of the high platforms. He had already put on a set of two-crotch armor, hung a knife on his waist, and held a gun in his hand, ready for battle.
This iron armor was bought by someone else. It cost a lot of money and owed a lot of favors.
In fact, he originally wanted the sleeve armor worn by the Silver Spear Army, and even hoped for the Mingguang Armor like the Prince of Liang's Army, but it was too time-consuming to make. At that time, he was in a hurry to go to war, so he got it from others. I bought a ready-made one, modified it a little and put it on - don't say that hiding armor and bows privately is a serious sin. There are too many people hiding these things privately these days, and the powerful nobles are still making them openly. What can you do?
He and the robes formed a formation here. Their main task was to block the enemy troops coming out of the city and protect the crossbowmen on the high platform.
Reluctantly, the two sides were shooting happily above, but there was no movement on the ground. The south gate of Pingcheng was tightly closed, and the Xianbei people had no intention of fighting out. Feng Bachi even suspected that the city gate was blocked from the inside.
If so, it's really too simple.
If you don’t dare to open the city gate and attack, you will just defend.
You can't go out of the city to destroy other people's siege equipment, you can't attack the enemy at night on a large scale, you can't chase down the defeated troops in the siege, there are too many things you can't do.
If you continue like this, you will be finished sooner or later.
The rain of arrows from the sky is still falling, and occasionally some fall on the place where Feng Bachi and the others are standing. Listening to the clanking sound on the wooden boards above their heads, Feng Bachi even thinks of the rainy summer nights in Pingqiu. .
I have been away on the war for several months, and I feel a little homesick.
"The Shiben clan surrendered, stop fighting!"
"Dongmugen Mountain has fallen, and your family members have been captured, so why fight?"
"Shi Yiqiang is the legitimate son of the late king, and his bloodline is precious. Why don't you surrender?"
"The way to survive is dead. Surrendering is inevitable, so don't make a mistake."
Arrows are shooting at each other. , there were still calls for surrender one after another around the city.
Feng Bachi just listened to the shouts in Jin dialect, Xianbei and Wuhuan dialects.
"General, how is Pingqiu?" asked a person next to him.
"Just like that." Feng Bachi said nonchalantly: "According to the letter, the wheat harvest in May was okay. There was a rain before, and there was some damage, but not big. This year, many new irrigation canals were dug, and some dry fields were changed. The floodgates on the river to the north of Longxiang Mansion were finally demolished. I heard that the Zheng family still wanted to leave, so they were pushed back."
"Really pushed back?"
"Is there any lie?" Feng Bachi smiled and said: "Fighting for King Liang is really useful! In fact, it's not just Pingqiu. I know a tracker on Bianshui River who went to Heijinyou Camp, I heard that many water towers and mills on the Luoshui River have also been demolished. In the past, it was difficult to demolish the water towers. They were the properties of high-ranking officials. Now Governor Sun of the right camp came forward and took the military order issued by the central leader not to demolish the water towers. Just demolish their manor, no one dares to disobey."
"It's true what the general said, fighting for King Liang is really useful." The man smiled and said: "Then we will conquer Pingcheng, and King Liang's prestige will grow. , and no one dares to talk nonsense."
Feng Bachi nodded slightly.
As a soldier of the government, he went on the expedition himself, but only one member of the Three Households tribe was sent as an auxiliary soldier, and the remaining people could complete all the farm work. As long as farm work is not affected, what if they go on expeditions all year round? Being poor will definitely make you poorer, but it won’t be too affected.
What really had a major impact on them was that they suffered a huge defeat and lost their armor, and the other was that their fields and tribes were divided and their financial resources were insufficient.
But for now, there is no such trouble at all. The grain harvested and the livestock raised at home are enough to support the training of myself and at least one of my nephews, and my skills can be guaranteed.
So, they really hope that King Liang will win the war, and it is best to become the emperor, so that their interests can be guaranteed.
The back and forth exchange of bows and crossbows continued until dawn.
In the middle of the night, Feng Bachi and others returned to the camp to rest, and the Bajiao Longxiang Mansion's soldiers came to change the defense.
The fighting never stopped.
******
The top of the city where Tuoba He climbed up.
The personal guards held up large shields and carefully protected them.
Feather arrows kept flying from the opposite side, with sharp sounds piercing the air.
There are white hair-like arrows everywhere on the shields and towers, and even the wall stacks are full of arrows.
When the wind blows, the arrow feathers sway with the wind, almost covering up the original appearance of the wall stacks.
Some of the arrows that flew far even landed in the city. The rotating soldiers who were resting under the city wall suffered heavy casualties. As a last resort, they found shelter in civilian houses nearby.
There are still some damaged areas on the tower.
Last night, the Jin people also got some artillery carts, and they arrived more than a hundred steps away from the city wall at night and fired, but they stopped in the middle of the night. This morning I saw that the artillery carriage had also been withdrawn. The reason was simply that there was no more stone ammunition, or it was of no use and they gave up.
The defenders also hung some curtains at the top of the city to prevent stone bullets. They were all burned down by a rocket fired by the Jin people this morning, so they simply stopped hanging them.
Taken together, the three earth platforms pose the greatest threat to the city.
The crossbowmen took turns in the battle and kept shooting into the city. They had to hold up their shields when walking in the city. Someone was injured from time to time, which caused great damage to morale.
Tuoba Hena took a few steps back and looked at the soldiers who were resting inside the tower. Their expressions were numb, panicked, and even a little uncomfortable.
Tuoba He can understand them.
Obviously they are all athletes on horseback, why did they give up the advantage of riding and dismount to defend the city? Should it be done?
No one can answer, not even Tuoba He.
He suddenly remembered that when he moved the capital from Shengle, many people proposed to come to Pingcheng, but his mother rejected it on the grounds that it would be difficult to move if the enemy attacked.
Now it seems that my mother really got it right.
After having Pingcheng, I thought too much and was reluctant to run away, so that I used my own shortcomings to attack the enemy's strengths. It is better to simply abandon the pots and pans and give full play to our own advantages in mobile warfare: when the Jin army comes to attack, they will fight if they can, and if they cannot fight, they will run away; when the Jin army retreats, they will pursue them vigorously, and at worst, they will eat up a piece of their rear. They feel pain.
Pingcheng should only be used as a forward base and a fortress to store military supplies and supplies, not a southern capital.
Unfortunately, at the end of the fight, my mother couldn’t see through it anymore.
Maybe it’s not that she can’t see through it, but that she has no choice.
Tuoba Yulu was killed after failing once. If his brother and mother lost too many points, the end would not be much better - maybe they were worried about themselves?
Thinking of this, Tuoba He smiled bitterly. It's now time, he really can't do anything to his own family.
"Hoo!" A thick crossbow arrow flew from not far away and was nailed to the tower.
The dust fell, and everyone looked at it all with their mouths wide open, at a loss.
"Hoo! Hoo!" Two more crossbow arrows flew towards me.
One of them passed through the crowd, knocking down several people with a sudden crash, and screams came one after another.
A nail was stuck on the female wall, peeling off large pieces of plaster.
Tuoba He's scalp was numb and he took a few steps back.
“Can’t we destroy those earthen platforms?” He looked anxiously outside the city and asked.
Avoiding his eyes left and right.
Obviously, no, they can't win. Or maybe the Jin people were waiting for them to attack, so that they could take the opportunity to consume the strength of the defenders and save more effort when attacking the city.
Tuoba Hena felt a chill in his heart when he saw it.
Just now he inspected the east side of the city, and it seemed that they were also carrying earth and ramming it to build an earthen platform.
When it comes to attacking and defending cities, the Jin people are better at it.
Some aides in the government mentioned that many large cities in the Han Dynasty have horse faces, or they have high towers outside the cities, called "enemy towers", which are used for defense. However, the Xianbei people don't understand, and are even far inferior to the Huns in this regard, which is why this is the case.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" A dense barrage of arrows hit this side. It was obvious that the Jin army judged that there was an important target here.
The defenders fought back bravely, and someone on both sides fell down. Although they were just shooting arrows at each other, the bloodshed was not reduced at all, and the casualties increased sharply.
Tuoba He retreated knowingly. He was worried and began to seriously think about whether it was necessary to defend Pingcheng. After all, most of the old, weak, women and children were not here, and it was too late to withdraw now.
If the delay continues, some people will surrender in desperation if everything is not saved. At that time, once the Jin people or Helan Aitou know about their temporary pasture land, the situation will deteriorate sharply.
But the decision to retreat is not something he can make alone...
******
"Dong dong dong..." Amidst the continuous sound of drums, several square formations have been arranged in the south of the city, which is the main attack direction, including both infantry and cavalry. No more than fifteen thousand.
The heavily armed Luonan Prefecture soldiers and part of the Silver Spear Army lined up at the rear, with 5,000 men from Ding Ling Zhai Shu's tribe taking the lead.
Of course they are reluctant, but as long as there is a slight movement, the rear team will be defeated by the front team, and there is no chance of survival.
In addition, family members who are still in Zhongshan County, Jizhou will also be demoted as slaves, although many people in this world no longer care much about their families and only care about their own life and death.
Dozens of ladder trucks were rolled out.
The first group of more than a thousand people from the Zhai Shu tribe got into the belly of the vehicle and slowly pushed the vehicle forward.
There are more than a dozen smoke-generating trucks sandwiched between the ladder trucks. The south wind is blowing today, but it is not strong, which is suitable for the use of this type of siege equipment.
A group of crossbowmen were replaced on the three earth platforms.
Because the city was about to be attacked, the arrows were fired more intensively.
The rifle archers of the Silver Spear Army did not even care about casualties and repeatedly leaned out to shoot arrows.
Drums also sounded in the west and east of the city.
The Wuhuan people came from the west and the Huangtou Army came from the east. They launched a round of feint attacks to attract the attention of the defenders.
The Yi Congjun was deployed in the rear formation. Although the sergeants were sitting on the ground, they were fully armed and ready to attack at any time.
War costs lives.
The person commanding this siege didn't seem to care much about human life.
The high-nosed and deep-eyed Ding Ling people have already pushed the ladder truck to the city, becoming the first fuel for the flesh and blood mill.
(End of this chapter)