Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

In the valley below Duanliang City, the sound of killing shook the sky. Under the leadership of Guo Yan, the Wei army soldiers formed a circle with their backs against the ridge. The waterwheels that were protected in the circle were used to transport water. On the east side of this formation, the Qi army kept rushing in, and almost every time they rushed in, they would take away several lives in the formation.

The terrain of Duanliang City was too steep, which indeed caused great trouble to the attacking party, and also increased the difficulty of delivering reinforcements and supplies. Previously, Guo Yan led his team to try to rush to Duanliang City from the front several times, but was repelled by the enemy, and several waterwheels were damaged by the enemy.

After some trial and balance, Guo Yan chose to lead his troops to avoid the hillside earth beam in front of Duanliang City, and chose to form a formation in the valley below the back of the city, so that the defenders in the city could use long ropes and wooden barrels to extract water from the city.

On the east side of the Qi army's main attack formation, hundreds of Wei soldiers who had died in the battle had already fallen on the ground. Guo Yan still commanded the soldiers with a stern expression to block the gaps created by the enemy, so as to buy time for the defenders in the Broken Beam City on the plateau to draw water.

Qi General Xue Guyan knew the importance of these water supplies to the Wei army in the city, so in addition to breaking through the enemy formation, he also ordered the destruction of the water wheels and buckets carrying water.

The remaining rockets from the previous siege were thrown without reservation, and the outer walls of some water buckets were pierced or burned. Some Wei soldiers even rushed forward with their bodies to block the gaps and put out the flames. Guo Yan also ordered the bodies of some dead soldiers to be dragged back and covered on the water wheels to form a layer of protection, so that blood would inevitably flow into the water.

When the defenders in the city carried this precious water tool up to the city, they saw the bloody water, and tears welled up in their dry eyes. They couldn't help but lean down and yelled: "General Guo, please retreat for now. We have enough water. The enemy is too fierce. Don't let our comrades suffer here again! We must swear to defend this city and wait for the army to arrive!"

Guo Yan under the city saw that under the harassment of the enemy, more than half of the water in the waterwheel had not been pumped into the city, so he glared and roared: "I led the army here, don't you know the danger? Only you defend the city, the rest are not worth it! Quickly draw water and store it, don't cry! Since the army has come here, there is no water and blood, and it will be a dead country. Where else to choose? Kill the enemy!"

Under Guo Yan's roar, the defenders in the city wiped away their tears and sped up the speed of drawing water. Although many thieves wanted to destroy the buckets and long ropes with stray arrows, there were always three or five buckets of water in ten buckets that were brought into the city for storage.

Xue Guyan originally wanted to let the bandits in and then destroy them together, but he didn't expect that the enemy's morale was so tenacious that they were willing to give water to the defenders in the city at the cost of their lives.

He was furious in his heart, waving his horse spear and slashing and charging into the enemy formation again and again. His armor was splashed with blood. Seeing that the enemy formation was still stubbornly maintained and did not retreat, he pointed at Guo Yan who was fighting hard in the formation and roared: "Thieves, what kind of reward can Li Boshan give you to make you fight to death!"

Guo Yan laughed after hearing this and said: "What do you know, thieves! My lord governs the world with benevolence and righteousness, and can lead to the revival of the Han Dynasty and rebuild the Yanxia! When my way is prosperous, everyone will serve, so why fear death! Kill the bandits, kill the bandits!"

"Kill the bandits, kill the bandits!"

Along with Guo Yan's roar, other soldiers also roared loudly. For a time, the loud roar overwhelmed the shouts of the Qi army, which was several times their number.

After the battle continued for a while, the soldiers in the rear finally shouted loudly: "General Guo, the water has been delivered to the city!"

When Guo Yan heard this, his face was also happy. He did not retreat but advanced. After reaching the front of the battle, he shouted loudly: "I will block the enemy from here and guard the rear. You will quickly evacuate to the west!"

While speaking, he rushed to the front line, and together with the soldiers around him, he blocked and killed the enemy while slowly retreating the army. At this time, after the defenders on the city had taken the water, they also joined the attack on the enemy below the city from a high position.

"Don't let the thief get away, kill all these Qiang thieves!"

Xue Guyan was also in a killing mood at this time. Naturally, he was unwilling to let the enemy send water to the city under his nose and then evacuate safely. He immediately led his elite soldiers to rush towards the retreating enemy formation.

The passage at the bottom of the ravine was narrow. When the Wei army's battle formation was firmly held, the Qi army still found it difficult to break through the battle formation easily. However, as the battle formation began to shift backwards, it was no longer as solid as before. Although Guo Yan still led the soldiers to fight hard, it was still difficult to stop more and more enemy soldiers from invading the battle line, making the entire battle formation about to break.

"The soldiers on the east side are fighting with chariots, and the soldiers on the west side quickly evacuate! Tell the passing soldiers that the supplies in Duanliang City have been replenished, and they can continue to hold on for many days. Don't worry about this. Quickly wipe out the remaining cross-border bandits!"

Seeing that the battle formation had been penetrated and scattered by the enemy, it was difficult to evacuate all of them. Guo Yan made a quick decision to lead more than 300 people who were fighting the enemy here to stay here to cover the rear, so as to give nearly 1,000 soldiers in the rear a chance to escape and retreat.

Because the enemy was too fiercely entangled and there were successors swarming in the rear, it was difficult for Guo Yan and others to escape the battle. The soldiers in the west knew that the situation was urgent and did not dare to waste precious time and opportunity, so they immediately withdrew.

The Qi army was blocked by Guo Yan and other soldiers and the carriages, so it was difficult to move forward. Even if dozens of people rushed forward, they did not dare to continue to pursue, and could only turn back and trap Guo Yan and his party firmly in place.

As the messy carriages were gradually destroyed, Guo Yan and his party were gradually exposed to the enemy's front. There was no barrier between them, and every collision would be bloody.

"General, farewell!"

A sergeant's ribs were pierced by an enemy's spear. He lowered his head to look at the barrel of the gun that had passed through his abdomen. Then he retreated instead of advancing. With a roar, he swung his knife straight into the face of the enemy soldier on the opposite side.

Guo Yan had fewer guards around him now. Even his arm armor had been smashed by the enemy's spear. One arm hung down by his side, and he was killing the enemy with only one hand. When he saw his soldiers dying tragically in front of him, there was no compassion on his face. He just chuckled in his mouth and said: "The boy actually went first, and Huang Quan came in behind..."

Xue Guyan roared loudly, and swung his spear in his hand, picking and killing the two pawns beside Guo Yan. Immediately, the spear pressed down and hit Guo Yan on the shoulder, forcing him to kneel on the ground, and then shouted: "Will the thief surrender?"

Guo Yan glanced sideways at the protruding clavicle on his shoulder, which was covered in blood, and immediately stood up straight with his teeth clenched, glaring at the enemy general with wide-open bloody eyes, and roared again: "Kill the thief..."

Soldiers from the left and right rushed forward and slashed at Guo Yan's chest with their swords. The brave general, whose body was covered with scars, fell straight on the battlefield.

"The thief is doing great harm to me!"

Xue Guyan saw that Guo Yan died in the battle, and was still furious. He drew his sword and beheaded Guo Yan. Then he ordered his soldiers to behead all the Wei soldiers who died in the battle, and built a Jingguan outside Duanliang City. Intimidate the defenders in the city.

The news that Guo Yan died in the battle at Duanliang City soon spread to the rear. When the soldiers who retreated from Duanliang City recounted the incident, Li Tai couldn't help but recall the time when Zhou Changming introduced this high-spirited general to his sect. The scene at that time made me feel quite sad for a while.

"Although it is a farewell, this is just for this life. The deceased is gone, but the living still have courage. They should endure the tears of sorrow, fight bravely to kill the enemy, avenge General Guo and others, and comfort the heroes who died on the battlefield!"

Casualties are inevitable in war, and it is useless to be too emotional and indulge in grief. Li Tai quickly calmed down and looked at Guo Yan's robes who were still full of sadness and said.

He had no time to be disturbed by such joys and sorrows, because there were still many military matters waiting for him to handle and make decisions, especially the Northern Qi army active in the mountains north of Wusu City, which needed to be searched, surrounded, and eliminated. As for the task of defending Jia's Ridge Mountain Road that Guo Yan was previously responsible for, it was handed over to Li Yantou.

The battlefield situation around Wusu City is too complex, and it is not suitable for large groups of infantry battles. However, both sides of the war have chosen this place as the battlefield for the battle. Naturally, they must work hard to control the surrounding places. , in order to facilitate the advance and retreat of the army and avoid being surrounded and intercepted by the enemy.

Before completing this task, the large group of people naturally did not dare to enter the battlefield easily.

Because once they are at a disadvantage in terms of terrain control, it will be difficult to use even the advantage of more men and horses. A dangerous stronghold such as Broken Liang City only needs a few hundred people to be stationed to contain thousands of troops. Once it is surrounded and surrounded by enemy troops, it will be at an absolute disadvantage.

From the perspective of the Western Wei Dynasty, Li Tai needed to firmly control the passage from Qinyuan to Wusu City, as well as the mountainous area north of Wusu City, to avoid being attacked by enemy troops from these directions, so as to consolidate Wusu. This advanced base camp in the city allowed the main army of the Western Wei Dynasty to launch an attack on the Shangdang area from north to south and from a high position.

After Guo Yan and others fought hard, they provided important supplies to the defenders of Duanliang City. Since the Jiashi Ridge Passage had not been opened by the Qi army, it would be difficult for the troops behind it to advance along this route. Moreover, the strongholds built by the Qi soldiers who had crossed the border in search of water and paths could not be supported and could not be put into use. Instead, they were encircled and exterminated one by one by the Wei army.

At the same time, the areas where these Qi army troops appeared and where they stayed further pointed out the geographical key points in the area to the Wei army, thus strengthening the prevention and control of the area and further making up for the disadvantage of away operations.

In the next few days, the Wei army attacked separately and carried out a detailed clearing of the small Qi army in this area, ensuring the safety of the north of Wusu City.

At the same time, the grain and grass supplies transferred to Wusu City also reached a certain scale. After all the conditions were met, Li Tai finally led the main division and brigade to Wusu City, preparing to start a battle with the Northern Qi army here.