Mythical Qin: I, Gao Yao, will never be a eunuch!

After all, this is not the brightly lit world of the postmodern era! In such an environment, after nightfall, even if the defenders on the city wall opened their eyes wide, it was difficult to see the specific situation in the pitch-black night. The same was true for the attacking party. They were in the dark and even the faces of their comrades beside them were blurred.

If everyone is equipped with a torch, it is obviously not realistic, because it will delay time and affect the efficiency of the action. Imagine, if you hold a torch to attack the city, wouldn't you become a sitting duck? It's simply courting death! Moreover, if you force an attack in the dark, before the enemy's attack arrives, a little carelessness will cause chaos. What's more, the archers of the Southern Border Army have a longer range. If you attack blindly in the dark, you can't even see the direction of the attack clearly, how can you organize an effective defense? This battle can't be fought at all! Because of this, in ancient times, night was usually not a good time to launch an attack.

At this time, Erniu hurried to Gao Yao's side, with obvious wounds on his body.

"My lord, the battlefield has been cleared. We currently have 3,000 soldiers left who can fight, but 600 of them are seriously injured and cannot continue to fight for the time being."

At this time, Erniu also came to Gao Yao with blood all over his body and explained the current situation. This kind of frequent attacks put a lot of pressure on the defenders, and the position to be defended was not just the city gate. Wushang County was just a small county town, and the advantages and disadvantages were very obvious during the defense period.

As a relatively small county, Wushang County is unique in that it does not have four gates like other regular county towns. In fact, there are only two gates facing north and south. Such a layout is really easy for the soldiers responsible for defending the city. After all, they only need to focus on these two points for defense, without having to take into account multiple directions too cumbersomely, so that they can deploy troops and resources more effectively.

However, the disadvantages of this structure are also obvious. Due to the limited size of the county town, the city wall is relatively low and not strong enough. When the enemy army is large in number and strong in strength, they do not have to stick to attacking from the city gate. Even if there is no city gate to use, with sufficient manpower, the enemy can still choose to attack from other locations on the city wall. Because of this, the city wall of this small county town can hardly withstand the fierce attack of a large-scale army.

In this situation, the defending side often faces tremendous pressure. Because there are so many potential breakthrough points, the defenders have to disperse their forces to defend various areas that may be breached, which undoubtedly greatly weakens the overall defense capabilities. Once a certain part is missed or the defense line is breached, the entire city may be in danger. Therefore, for Gaoyao, how to reasonably deploy troops under limited conditions, maximize the defensive role of the city wall, and deal with threats from all sides, this is the most critical issue.

In ancient times, whenever an army went to war, whether it was a large-scale battle or a sporadic small-scale conflict, the battlefield selection often focused on key cities or important checkpoints. Generally speaking, these cities were mostly the locations of county governments. The reason for this is that these cities have extremely high defensive capabilities. Not only are their walls tall and thick, but they can also store a large amount of strategic materials. Because of this, sometimes, it may take several months, or even half a year or even a year to attack a city alone.

On the other hand, those small towns that were not well-known in history were basically unlikely to become the main battlefields of large-scale battles. The reason was actually very simple: once the enemy's heavy troops pressed in, even if the soldiers and civilians in the city rose up to resist, due to the huge disparity in strength, in the end it would only delay some time in vain and cause the loss of many soldiers in vain.

Therefore, in many ancient war scenes, especially in times of chaos, many county magistrates would make a wise choice - to surrender to the powerful party. They did not do this out of fear of death, but to protect the lives and property of the people in the city and their soldiers, while also maintaining their official status. After all, for them, it didn't seem to make much difference which side they followed.

Of course, the above situations mostly occurred in troubled times. If it were in peacetime, the situation would naturally be different. At that time, local officials might pay more attention to maintaining the ruling order of the court and their own reputation, rather than easily choosing the path of surrender and compromise.

Gao Yao resolutely decided to launch a frontal assault on Wushang County at that time. The reason was nothing but "urgent"! If a full-scale attack was planned and arranged again, the time consumed would definitely be extended. Even if a full-scale offensive strategy was really implemented, the speed of the attack might not be faster than this kind of attack. Moreover, Gao Yao had full confidence that he could conquer Wushang County in one fell swoop with this battle. However, the people who had previously defended Wushang County were trying to slow down the advance of the Chu army.

But now the situation has reversed, the roles of the attackers and defenders have been reversed, the Chu army has become the attackers, and Gao Yao has become the defenders. As a result, huge pressure has come directly to Gao Yao like a mountain. In fact, Gao Yao knew that Wushang County was difficult to defend. But what made him feel even more difficult was that Fan Zeng could predict the future and accurately predicted that Gao Yao was very likely to launch an offensive from the sea. This ability to anticipate the enemy in advance really brought great trouble and obstacles to Gao Yao.

As a result, Gao Yao's whereabouts were completely exposed as soon as he landed. He originally intended to attack Shanyin County, the capital of the former Yue Kingdom, but at this moment, such a plan was undoubtedly a foolish dream and impossible to achieve. Although the Southern Border Army could be deployed to the battlefield with the help of the vast ocean, not all soldiers of the Southern Border Army could adapt to this way of fighting.

After all, if you want to reach your destination by sea and fight, you must undergo rigorous and professional training. Otherwise, those who board the warship for the first time will probably be dizzy and vomit as soon as they get off the ship. They will find it difficult to stand steadily, let alone have strong combat power to charge into battle.

Furthermore, the carrying capacity of the sea vessels themselves also has a certain limit, and it is impossible to transport a large number of Southern Border Army soldiers at one time at will. It is precisely because of the interweaving of these factors that the current difficult situation has finally been created. Now, even if the reinforcements in the rear are willing to rush to Wushang County, their journey is doomed to be bumpy. Since the enemy has long known that the Southern Border Army will definitely send reinforcements to support, how can they sit back and do nothing and not carefully arrange ambushes around?

"My Lord! The current situation is extremely critical, why don't you activate that special weapon? If we can get its help, defeating the Chu army will be a piece of cake and can be accomplished overnight?" Seeing Gao Yao silent, Erniu couldn't hold back his temper and reminded him anxiously. The special weapon mentioned here is undoubtedly the dreaded black gunpowder. If black gunpowder is decisively used in the attack, it will surely be unstoppable and invincible.

However, facing Erniu's urgent advice, Gao Yao still looked solemn, and slowly shook his head and said: "Absolutely not! The Chu army is indeed difficult to deal with, and its soldiers are all brave, but they are not the primary target of our army this time. What we really need to go all out to deal with is the army from the court. It is not a critical moment of life and death yet, and we must not abuse such weapons lightly."

Gao Yao knew what Erniu was thinking. He knew that once the black gunpowder was put into the battlefield, whether it was used for ambushes, head-on confrontations, or even when attacking fortresses, its power would be beyond the imagination of ordinary people. It could be said to be invincible. But precisely because of this, Gao Yao was determined not to use this killer weapon casually. After all, the black gunpowder was the ultimate means hidden in the southern border today. The main significance of its existence was to play a decisive role in the critical moment of the confrontation with the imperial army and turn the tide of the war in one fell swoop.

Gao Yao was not sure what methods the Beiyanshan people had, especially whether the other side had mastered the technology of black powder. Once both sides used black powder, the situation of the war would change completely. It would no longer be a cold weapon fight as before.

"Here"

Although Erniu still couldn't understand Gao Yao's idea at this time, he had been with Gao Yao for so many years, and listening to Gao Yao's instructions had become an instinct.

"Get ready. Hold on for another three days. If the situation doesn't improve, then prepare to break out."

"Here"

Gao Yao was not stubborn. The Chu army was now encircling him. If the situation could not change, Gao Yao would have to withdraw. This was not a question of the commander's ability, but the possibility that Wushang County would be completely deadlocked. Breaking out was a must, and he had already made preparations for this when planning the action.

Let's not talk about the rest. With Gao Yao and the well-trained personal soldiers behind him, breaking through is naturally not a difficult task. Moreover, several warships have been hidden in the planned positions. As long as they can retreat to the vicinity of the warships, they can withdraw smoothly. This can be regarded as a backup plan left by Gao Yao. It is true that Gao Yao dares to fight, but he will not leave a way out for himself. Xiang Yu dares to burn his boats at any time, but Gao Yao will not.

War is ultimately a manifestation of hard power. Strategy, tactics, and weapons are all important factors. The result of relying solely on morale and personal bravery is the Wujiang River.