Great Song Pirate

Chapter 421 Stick to Aizhou City

"Decree that Li Hong must immediately mobilize Honghekou soldiers and horses, and rush to Aizhou City day and night, and make no mistakes in taking back Aizhou City! Be sure to keep the food and fodder in Aizhou City!" Li Chaoguo ordered in a hoarse voice and angrily.

"Your Majesty, no! Now I think that Aizhou may have fallen into the hands of the Skeleton Army. If we use a large number of troops against Aizhou, once the Skeleton Army is in a hurry, if the Skeleton Army sets fire to the city again, we will stock up on Aizhou. Didn’t the large amount of food and fodder in the state city also disappear? Once the food and fodder are destroyed by the bandit army, our soldiers and horses fighting against the Yuzhan people in the south will immediately run out of food and collapse without fighting, and we will be defeated by then. I thought it was better for me to negotiate with the skeleton army first before making any plans! I hope Your Majesty will think twice!" Zhang Xiaowen heard the king's order to mobilize troops to conquer the skeleton army, so he rushed out and knelt down on the main hall, He kowtowed.

King Li Chao looked at Zhang Xiao coldly, and snorted coldly: "This skeleton army is really bullying me too much. If we back down again and again, wouldn't it fuel their arrogance even more? Now they have taken Aizhou City, if we continue to let it go, it will be even more impossible to get back the military rations we hoarded there. You don’t want to talk about it anymore. Your will is resolved. This battle must take back Aizhou City. Let's talk about it after we get back the city of Aizhou! Come, pass the decree quickly!" After finishing speaking, King Li Chao left the case with his sleeves, leaving behind Zhang Xiao who was still begging and all the ministers to turn around him to the harem.

After Zhang Xiao opened his mouth, looking at the back of the king who had gone far away, he couldn't help but slumped to the ground, and let out a long sigh.

A team of palace guards guarded a chief guard who delivered the decree, and rushed all the way until they broke into the Annan military camp stationed at the mouth of the Red River. When they saw the palace here, they all commanded Li Hong, and handed over the imperial decree of King Li Chao. In his hands, after reading the imperial decree, Li Bing also sat on the spot in shock. He has been stationed here for many days and made all the preparations for the battle. A heavy blow to the skeleton army who dared to come to attack, but he did not expect that all his preparations would fulfill this damn skeleton army, allowing them to easily take away the city of Aizhou, an important town for grain storage, and all his plans followed suit. It became a bubble!
Li Hong is well aware of the importance of Aizhou to their Annan, and even more knowing that if all the food there is taken away by the skeleton army, it will deal a heavy blow to their Annan Li Dynasty. After sending away the imperial envoy who passed the decree, he did not dare to Without any hesitation, he immediately ordered [-] soldiers and horses, dragging a large number of siege equipment and rushing towards Aizhou in a mighty manner. This is the largest number of soldiers and horses he can mobilize so far.

Aizhou is about 150 miles south of Shenglong City, passing through some rivers and lakes. Although Li Hong rushed towards Aizhou non-stop, it took him three full days to lead [-] soldiers and horses After crossing many rivers, he came to the outside of the city of Aizhou, but when he arrived in the north of Aizhou, he saw the towering black skull flag flying on the city wall from a distance, and looked at the city again. On the open space outside, Li Hong almost vomited blood and fell off his horse on the spot.

Within a stone's throw of the entire city of Aizhou, a trench two feet wide and one foot deep suddenly appeared, stretching across the city of Aizhou, blocking their way to attack the city. Li Hong really couldn't figure it out. In just three days, how did the skeleton army dug such a wide trench, but fortunately there was no scene of flames bursting into the sky here, at least it shows that this place has not been completely burned by the skeleton army, and it also shows that the skeleton army The exception was that they did not retreat with a single blow, and the large amount of food and fodder they had hoarded in the city also showed that they had not been destroyed by the skeleton army for the time being, which left Li Hong with a chance to fight against the skeleton army.

Li Hong didn't care about the exhaustion along the way, he didn't even care about setting up camp, so he began to direct the soldiers and horses to set up formations in the north of the city. He didn't care about the hard work of these officers and soldiers who had been driving for three days in a row, and started to prepare. Siege matters.

The Yamen of the Aizhou City Government has also begun to get nervous, and the news sent back by the scouts was presented to Xu Yi here.

Listening to the reports from the scouts, Xu Yi furrowed his brows together. He currently has less than 2000 soldiers in the city, and he has to guard four gates. The reserve soldiers on hand will only be 300. Left and right, and the other party came with more than 8000 people at once, their strength far surpassed theirs by several times, and this was the first time their Fubo army had defended a city. Success or failure depends on this battle. Xu Yi is not nervous No wonder, he has already put all the capital he brought this time in this city of Aizhou. If he wins, he will push Li Chao into a desperate situation, and if he loses, he will be thrown into death.

"My lord! Please go back to the Zombie and wait for the news of the general. Please leave it to the general to deal with it. If the general loses Aizhou in this battle, I am willing to come to see you!" Yang Zaixing Advised Xu Yi again.

Although Li Bo didn't speak, he looked at Xu Yi worriedly, but Xu Yi waved his hand to stop Yang Zaixing's words: "Zaixing doesn't need to say any more, I won't leave here. You stay together! Pass my general order. This battle is our first battle to defend the city. I hope that all soldiers must be united. If this battle is not successful, you will be benevolent! Xu will never leave this place! We will go to the north gate now Bar!"

Seeing Xu Yi's resolute attitude, Yang Zaixing knew that even if he tried to persuade him, it would be useless, he clasped his fists and said, "The last general will get orders! As long as you stay alive, Aizhou must not be lost!"

Xu Yi frowned and scolded: "Nonsense! Aizhou can't be lost, let alone die! You still owe twenty army sticks!"

Yang Zaixing was moved for a while, so he didn't say any more, just looked at Li Bo and nodded slightly. Li Bo knew what he meant, and asked him to ensure Xu Yi's safety, so he also solemnly nodded to Yang Zaixing, To reassure him, everyone left the vacated mansion in great strides, got on their horses and ran towards the north gate.

Seeing that their lord Xu Yi also came to the top of the city in person, the members of the Fubo army who had been waiting here for a long time straightened their waists, looked at Xu Yi, and saw him patrolling the top of the city, showing firmness in their eyes. Even Xu Yi, who is their lord, is not afraid, so what are there to be afraid of these little pawns?As a result, the morale of the soldiers on the top of the city rose a lot, and then under Xu Yi's order, they continued to prepare.

Xu Yi patted Cheng Liang's bronze cannons that had been wiped on the crenel, and then looked at the neatly stacked ammunition bags, projectiles, etc., and told the gunners to be careful not to detonate these deadly things , The gunners immediately agreed with their chests out. These copper cannons were unloaded from the ship in two days in an emergency, in order to give these Annan people another surprise here, and then he checked the placed crossbows Cannons, these ballistas were also dismantled from the ship. It can be said that for this battle of defending the city, he thought of all the ways, and almost got all the powerful things on the ship, and installed them on the head of the city of Aizhou. It is said that the capital has been spent, and it depends on whether this battle can completely hurt the Annan people.

Not only did he dismantle the artillery and ballista and transport them here, but he also used these three days to drive away all the captured Annan officers and soldiers and the civilians here, no matter men, women, old or young, they were here day and night. A defensive trench was dug outside the city to slow down the attacking speed of the Annans and prevent them from directly approaching the city wall. His purpose was to use this trench to create a line of defense for the Annans. If they want to break through this trench, they will probably have to pay a very high price.

In addition, he also ordered Yang Zaixing to unload the swarm of bees and the hundred tigers running together from the fleet and transport them to the city wall, even the few Katyushas he brought this time. After moving out, it can be said that they have spent all their money, just waiting for Annan's soldiers to arrive.

A large number of bundles of arrows were stacked under the parapet of the city wall. All the defenders received a pair of crossbows, and many of them temporarily changed jobs to become archers. Anyway, they now have enough bows and crossbows. The Annan people's arsenal in the city alone was enough for them to use. A soldier with a bow and crossbow was arranged on each battlement. A large number of rolling logs and stones were stacked on the city wall, filled with oil. Firewood was placed under the cauldron, and the oil began to heat up. These were left by the Annan people, but now they are using them on the heads of the Annan people. designated area of ​​responsibility

Accompanied by Yang Zaixing, Lin Xiong and others, Xu Yi inspected the defensive facilities on the entire city wall. The city wall here has already been armed to every battlement, which even exceeded Xu Yi's original expectations. All the members of the military department were full of fighting spirit, without a trace of timidity, and their morale was very high. Xu Yi was even more determined. After seeing the layout on the city wall, he praised Yang Zaixing's arrangement endlessly.

"This arrangement is very good! From my point of view, not to mention that the Annan people sent [-] soldiers to attack Aizhou City, even if they come more, I am afraid they will not be our opponents!" Xu Yi looked at the side with a relaxed expression. Yang Zaixing, who followed him, praised him.

"The general has made all the preparations. As long as the Annan people come, they will never leave this time! The general must show them how powerful our Fubo infantry is! Please rest assured, my lord!" Yang Zaixing was confident. , replied proudly.

Xu Yi nodded in satisfaction, picked up the binoculars and began to look at the Annan soldiers and horses that were forming outside the city.

Through the lens of the telescope, Xu Yi saw that the Annan people outside the city were preparing all kinds of siege equipment. They assembled a catapult vehicle and connected a series of siege ladders. , were placed in front of their formation, and two rams were set up in the center as sharp weapons to attack the city gate. It can be said that the Annan people have also made sufficient preparations for this siege, but in Xu Yi's eyes, These things of theirs are a little too shabby compared to these guys of their own!

Under the command of the officers, Annan's archers lined up in a square formation and began to line up, while some Annan soldiers began to dig the soil on the spot, put them in the cloth bags they brought, and piled them together. Xu Yi didn't understand how they were doing this. Why, so he stretched out his hand and called Yang Zaixing, pointing at the Annan people and asking, "Look, Zaixing, what are these Annan people doing with so many bags of soil?"

After Yang Zaixing looked at it for a while, he said with a disdainful smile: "These Annan people want to rush over with these earth bags to fill in a few passages in the trenches we dug, and then let their shield swordsmen carry the ladders through this passage. Ditch, don’t worry, my lord, they won’t pass through this ditch so easily! The general has already figured out how to deal with them! We have something that will open their eyes!”

Only then did Xu Yi understand what the Annan people were doing with so many earth bags, so he also sneered, and then said: "The biggest threat to us at present is their hair-stone vehicles. Once the war starts, we must kill them first. These stone-carrying vehicles of theirs make it impossible for them to pose a threat to our brothers!"

Yang Zaixing nodded confidently and said, "I've seen it too, they won't have a chance to use these boulder carts!"

Xu Yi didn't ask Yang Zaixing what method he used to deal with these Annan people's hair-stone chariots, because there are quite a few guys in his hands who can deal with this hair-stone chariots. Quan should let Yang Zaixing try it out this time, and now he He was no longer worried about these Annan soldiers and horses outside, but he was certain that the open space outside the city today would be very bloody.

Li Hong looked up at the sun in the sky, it was already noon, and he also knew that his soldiers were getting tired after half a day's journey. Originally, he should let his soldiers camp for a rest, but due to the king's order, He had no choice but to start attacking the city immediately because of the imperial decree. The food and fodder in the city was too important to them. It can be said that Li Chao spent two years hoarding the food and fodder to supply the soldiers who conquered the people. He lost Aizhou for the use of horses. He can be said to be guilty. If he hadn’t miscalculated the actions of the Skeleton Army, the soldiers and horses of Aizhou would not have been transferred to Honghekou, and it would not have been so easy to lose here. , If he can't take back Aizhou and take back these grains and fodder, then he will die when he goes back to Thang Long, and now he has no way out.

Although he knew that the Skeleton Army possessed an unusually sharp weapon, which was many times more powerful than their hair stone chariots, but in order to capture Aizhou City as soon as possible, the only long-range weapons he could use were these dozens of hair stone chariots. In addition, because he didn't expect his opponent to dig such a wide trench outside the city of Aizhou in such a short period of time, when he led the army to come, he didn't prepare any equipment such as trench bridges, so he could only use soil methods and sandbags. He forced to fill in a few passages leading to the city wall. Although he knew that doing so would cause heavy losses, but now he has no other options.

"My lord general! The stone cart has been prepared, please show me, general!" The deputy came to report to Li Hong.

Li Hong took a deep breath, looked at the city of Aizhou in front of him, gritted his teeth and ordered: "Let's start! Send the stone chariot forward, first suppress the skeleton army on the city, followed by the archers, cover with shield swordsmen, and the infantry begin to prepare sandbags , we must capture Aizhou City as soon as possible!"

With the swing of his commander-in-chief flag, the erected stone chariot was pushed forward rumblingly towards the city of Aizhou under the impetus of more than a thousand Annan soldiers.

Xu Yi stood on the top of the city with a sneer and looked at the stone chariots that were approaching the city wall, as well as the Annan soldiers and horses in the distance, laughing secretly at the ignorance and stupidity of the Annan people, who suffered so many losses , I don’t have a long memory at all, and I have arranged all the soldiers and horses within the range of their artillery. If the artillery is loaded with solid ammunition, the current distance is enough to bombard their central army, but he doesn’t know what to do now. He is willing to do this, because if the solid bullet is fired at this distance, the damage to the enemy is not enough. Now he is no longer worried about whether he can resist this Annan army, but thinking about how to kill the opponent as much as possible Some people, let the Annan people know how powerful they are!Let the Annan people be completely awakened by him, knowing that their Fubo army can not only rule the roost at sea, but also let no one underestimate them on land.

"My lord! The Thunder Cannon is ready! Please give the order, my lord!" Yang Zaixing hurried to the tower to report to Xu Yi.

"Let's wait and talk, let them get closer, and after the stop is stable, concentrate more personnel to fight!" Xu Yi didn't let him fight now.

Yang Zaixing nodded immediately, admiring Xu Yi's composure in his heart, so he immediately sent an order to tell the gunners who had already prepared to wait for a while and continue to aim, making sure to hit with one hit.

The Leigong cannons unloaded from the ship were all four-wheeled gun carriages. After being transported to the city, it was much more convenient to arrange than the two-wheeled artillery carriages of the infantry. After the city wall was lifted down, all the artillery carts were tied to the battlements with thick ropes, and a large number of sand bags were piled up behind the artillery, and the artillery carts of the infantry also used many methods to erect them on the city wall. It will happen that the cannon is thrown off the city wall after the cannon is fired.

A large number of gunners had already made their preparations, watching the Annan people's stone chariots gradually approaching in the distance and those Annan people's other arms that were pressed by the whole army. Everyone on the top of the city was ready.

When the stone cart was pushed to about [-] steps away from the city wall, Xu Yi finally nodded and said to Yang Zaixing: "It's time to start!"

Yang Zaixing, who got the order, immediately ordered loudly: "Reload the first round of solid bullets, target the enemy to send stone vehicles, prepare..."

All dozens of Leigong cannons were filled with solid iron bullets immediately, pushed to the battlements, and aimed at the firing carts of those Annan people rumbling over, followed by Yang Zaixing's stern roar: "Let go!"

(Naval battles have been fought, and city sieges have also been attacked. It's time for the pig's feet to learn how to defend. Dig a hole and bury Annan's reinforcements! Monthly tickets! Continue to call for monthly tickets! Brothers who like to watch, don't be stingy!)

(End of this chapter)