Chapter 209 Flag Fall
The oars paddled gently, quietly approaching Puyang Jinjia Village along the river.
Luo Gang and Pan Zhang led 300 selected water warriors, dressed in brown clothes, and swam upstream with bows and axes. Except for the sound of the river water churning, everyone held their breath and concentrated. The journey went smoothly. When Luo Gang and others approached the pontoon, the Han soldiers did not even notice.
The pontoon bridge in Puyangjin is made of bamboo rafts, iron cows and rocks, and is considered semi-permanent. Luo Gang took the lead in climbing up the bridge from the bottom of the wooden pile, followed by Pan Zhang.
After they got on the bridge, they did not continue to rush, but waited for the people below to send their armor up. They only have brown clothes now, and if they go to charge the Han soldiers like this, they are not charging, but they are going to die. So when the people in the three villages in front were busy, Luo Gang and others put on their armor and took their time.
After a while, everyone was getting ready. Luo Gang glanced at the brothers and said solemnly:
"Brothers, if you don't say anything else, let's just follow this time as brothers today."
No one spoke and had nothing to say. They were all supported by Luo Shi. There is no reason or purpose. Since the eldest brother wants to charge and kill these Han soldiers, then just follow the eldest brother and charge.
Luo Gang held a big ax and ran as fast as he could. The Dazhai they chose was the most important Nanzhai. At this time, there was a loud killing sound there. The Han soldiers who were originally stationed on the side of the river on guard had already been transferred to the south.
That was Guan Yu's main attack surface. You can imagine what kind of pressure the Han soldiers were under.
When Luo Gang rushed up the wall, two Han soldiers saw him and were about to instruct him to go to the front to support him. They saw soldiers climbing up the wooden fence. Just as he was about to shout "thief attack", Luo Gang's big ax They had already been chopped to pieces.
Luo Gang, whose face was covered in blood at this moment, pointed at a large flag in front of him with a big ax, gesturing for Pan Zhang to follow. There is a general under that banner, the Northern Military Academy Lieutenant Zhongshao, and there is another person beside him, and he is Yang Du.
When Luo Gang pointed his ax at Zhongshao and others, these Han officials also turned to look at them. Although the two Han soldiers who had discovered Luo Gang were dead, their death screams finally alerted Zhong Shao and others in the village.
Seeing the enemy suddenly appearing from behind, Zhong Shao was not frightened. He whispered to Yang Du on the side, and Yang Du led a group of soldiers to kill them with a cruel smile.
As the saying goes, enemies are extremely jealous when they meet.
Yang Du, in particular, felt aggrieved. The gap between the actual treatment and his ideal was too big, and he did not dare to go against a child of a family like Zhong Shao. After all, he said that it was a good thing that he, Yang Du, now had no soldiers. This was also a break with the past and he could be a Han official with peace of mind. And just now, Zhong Shao hinted that if he killed these people, he would have a great future.
Jiali was aggrieved and induced Yang Duzhi to regard Luo Gang as his enemy for nine generations. Why didn't you, Luo Gang, be recruited along with you? Sure enough, the big road won't work. If you have to take the small road, then I'll ask you to die.
Not to mention how brave Yang Du was, he actually blocked the offensive of Luo Gang and Pan Zhang with his troops. But alas, this is his own fantasy. Luo Gang and Pan Zhang just looked at each other and reached an agreement. Luo Gang continued to rush forward to kill Zhong Shao, but Pan Zhang came to block Yang Du.
Immediately, the two groups of people fought together.
Seeing Luo Gang's bravery, Zhong Shao was worried that the soldiers could not stop him, so he took a group of soldiers from the front stronghold and continued to squeeze Luo Gang's attack.
Since the Nanmian Village is the main gate of Puyangjin, it is the most important, so Zhongshao's troops stationed here are all Northern troops, a total of 600 people, with a total of six villages.
Originally, there were three villages in the south and one village on each of the other three sides. But who would have known that a huge man with a red face would come up directly and launch an overwhelming attack to the south. The officials of the three villages could not stop him, so he had no choice but to move the northernmost village facing the river to the south. In this way, the four villages were maintained. The troops finally withstood the Taishan Army's attack.
But now that the unmanned north side suddenly rushed in with thieves, he didn't know how he fell into the opponent's plan, but because he didn't have enough troops, he was stretched thin, so he could only draw them to the village on the south wall, and draw them again. Come down and defend yourself.
But unfortunately, Zhong Shao did not visit the front line in person, and had no idea what kind of pressure the Han soldiers on the front line of the south wall were already under.
When Guan Yu launched an attack with 300 troops from his own army and 500 troops from Li Bi's Yishan Battalion, there were only 300 Han soldiers in front of them, and they could not stop them at all. You know, Guan Yu's three hundred tiger soldiers are the Taishan warriors Zhang Chong personally selected for him. One can't say ten of them, but two enemies are equal to each other. Therefore, the Han soldiers could not stop it. If a group of reinforcements had not come from behind, they would have collapsed at that time.
But now the sudden military order is to wipe out a whole group, so how can we fight? In just a moment, Li Bi led Sanshi's Yishan camp forward to charge up the wall. This time, there was a chain reaction, and the defense line leaked everywhere. Finally, when the red-faced giant appeared on the wall, he killed Qu Jiang Zhongliu with a single blow. Zhongliu was Zhongshao's cousin. Once he died, the entire formation collapsed.
When the defeated troops on the south wall told Zhong Shao about Zhong Liu's death, he was mobilizing his troops to fight Luo Gang who was rushing up. The balance of victory was gradually tilting towards him. Yang Du, that good-for-nothing, had already been chopped down, and he died in the hands of that rough man with only three cuts. After that, he and Luo Gang rushed against Zhong Shao, and the situation was a bit dangerous.
But when a group of soldiers transferred from Zhongshao arrived, the whole situation was turned upside down. These water bandits were water bandits after all. They were somewhat brave, but their fighting equipment was crude and they didn't have much armor. How could they stop the Northern Army soldiers? Therefore, these rushing bandits have been squeezed into a ball by the soldiers of the Northern Army.
Victory is at hand.
But Zhongliu died, and Zhongshao couldn't accept it at all. The man stood under the big banner and heard the news of his clan brother's death, but remained silent. After waiting for further persuasion, Zhong Shao shouted: "It hurts me so much!" He coughed up blood and Tie Ruyi in his hand fell to the ground.
A mouthful of blood spurted out, and Zhong Shao came to his senses. He knew that the stronghold could no longer be defended. He glanced bitterly at the bandits who were about to be surrounded and annihilated, and ordered:
"The whole army retreats to the west wall."
Zhong Shao will continue to resist there.
But when the soldiers protected Zhong Shao and rushed out of the stronghold, they heard the roar of mountains and tsunami coming from the west wall. Then they saw the big banner with the word "王" that had been erected on the west wall, and it was cut down.
It's over, and the west wall has collapsed.
Zhong Shao quickly changed course and was about to rush to Puyang City, where there was still a way to survive. Just as he was halfway running with the soldiers, the sound of horse hooves suddenly came from behind. Now the traitor stopped running away. He looked at the surrounding Beijun Pao Ze and said generously:
"Our Northern Army is the first army of our Imperial Han Dynasty. Only those who die standing up, not those who kneel down, live. All gentlemen, come with me to sacrifice your life for the country."
After saying that, Zhong Shao tied his pocket tightly, then drew out his Huanshou sword, and formed a circular formation with all the Northern troops in the fields of Puyang.
But it's a pity that Zhong Shao and others wanted to die generously, but they all died in frustration.
When the cavalry general Ren Yun came after him, he did not rush into the formation. He just led the cavalry around the circular formation and fired arrows. From time to time, nooses would fly out, pulling the Northern Army soldiers out of the circular formation and dragging them to death.
Not far away, the Puyang soldiers who were standing on the tower of Puyang City watching the battle heard the constant wailing there, and they were all worried, worried that the general would be guilty and ask them to go out of the city to save people. But fortunately, the general was sober and did not issue such random orders.
In this way, the Puyang soldiers saw the smoke billowing in front of them and heard the wailing of the friendly troops, and then they remained motionless.
A moment later, the west wall fell, and the south wall was lost because the general abandoned the stronghold. Then almost at the same time, the general's flag of the easternmost stronghold also fell.
In just one morning, all three walls of Puyangjin fell.
The screams in Puyangzhiye continued, but they were much weaker than before. But soon after arriving at the back, its sound was no longer audible, and there was only a bright red color in the billowing smoke.
Zhong Shao, a loyal member of the Han family who was supposed to be sacrificed in Dongpingguan, died prematurely in the wilderness of Puyang, which makes people sigh.
News of the fall of Puyangjin Sanbi was quickly sent to Cao Shao's case in the city. Cao Shao could no longer hold back and smashed everything on the case crazily.
For a long time, the person lamented:
"What do I need the Northern Army for?"
——
Puyangjin, west wall.
After a bloody battle, Guo Mo was exhausted, but he still managed to find the strength to walk to the wall where his brothers died.
At this moment, the brothers who were still alive were collecting Paoze who had been shot to death by a Han soldier's rhubarb crossbow before, and moved them to the open space inside the wall.
Guo Mo looked at these soldiers who were as big as him and could no longer control his sadness. These people were all his guards and lived with him day and night, but now thirty good warriors died here, which made Guo Mo's heart bleed with pain.
He wants revenge! To pay homage to his fallen brothers.
He cruelly asked the guards on the side:
"How many prisoners were taken this time."
The guard on the side guessed Guo Mo's thoughts and hesitated:
"This wave of soldiers are all willing to die rather than surrender. This time our camp only captured twenty people."
"So few?"
The guard nodded and explained:
"Our side mainly attacked the Han soldiers of the Northern Army. They resisted fiercely and took few prisoners. But General Jinqu's side attacked the original Dahe water bandits, and they captured a lot of prisoners."
Guo Mo hesitated, not because he was afraid of the golden spring, or Ding Sheng, who was in front of him. He is proud of his bravery and thinks that as long as he has enough time, he can still surpass Ding Sheng's status.
The reason why he hesitated was because Ren Jinquan had just saved his life.
It turned out that when he was locked by the Han soldier's Dahuang crossbow, it was Jin Quan who shot an arrow and killed the crossbowman. Although he, Guo Mo, felt that he could escape, he still owed the favor.
But now, if he was asked to open his mouth and Jin Quan asked for his prisoner's mouth, Guo Mo would not be able to open his mouth. After thinking about it for a while, he finally couldn't agree with this tone, so he asked the guards to give Jin Quan the head of the enemy general he had just killed in exchange for the prisoner's mouth in his hand.
But who knew that Jin Quan not only rejected Guo Mo's deal, but also asked the guard to go back and persuade Guo Mo:
"Old Mo, don't make impulsive mistakes, think more about military discipline."
Guo Mo pointed in the direction of Jin Quan and yelled:
"Hot girl, your big weapon kills few prisoners? Are you playing this trick with Naigong now?"
But after scolding, Guo Mo also knew the difference between him and Ding Sheng. It's not about identity, but Ding Sheng didn't accept surrender and only treated them as traitors and killed them together, while he killed prisoners after the war. This is a big difference. Killing during wartime can be done as if the enemy has not surrendered, but killing after war is a blatant violation of military law.
In the end, Guo Mo did not dare to kill the more than 20 Northern Army officials. He just sat beside the sacrificed robes for a long, long time.
(End of chapter)