The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

Vol 4 Chapter 17: Day 1 (middle)

The uprising of the Yellow Turbans was very hasty in the first place. After the uprising, they came to attack Yangzhai directly. There were no siege equipment, no nest vehicles, no bridges, and no siege vehicles. They only made a few temporarily. Pontoons, ladders. Correspondingly, Yingchuan has been in peace for a long time, and the original defense equipment on Yangzhai City has either been dismantled long ago, or it has been in disrepair for a long time and cannot be used, and there are not many defensive equipment.

The first battle of attacking and defending the city between Yingchuan and the Yellow Turbans kicked off in such a state of "you are short and I am short".

The location where Xun Zhen, Wen Taishou and others were located was the East City Wall, and the Yellow Turbans first attacked the East City Wall.

Xin Ai suddenly said, "Not long after Zhenzhicai's raid came back, Bocai organized a crowd to attack our city wall. Zhenzhi, he obviously wanted to retaliate against you."

Xi Zhicai said, "It's better to say that he wants to take revenge for killing his brother."

Although Xin Ai did not serve in the county, the story of "Xun Zhenxue attacked the village on the night and Liu Deng assassinated Bolian" had already spread throughout the city. Ordinary people may not be aware of it, and the children of the great surnames in the city are all aware of it. He also heard about it, Xiao and Xunzhen said: "A few years ago, I met you at Wen Ruo's house for the first time, and Zhicai was there at the time. He cited you as a fellow, and praised you for your 'extraordinary ambition'. When you were expelled from the Northern Superintendent, he said to me many times, saying that you are 'Courageous Shen Min', a hero of our county, and that your name will be known to the world sooner or later. I didn't really care. Today, it seems that I am ignorant."

Like the Xun family, the Yangzhai Xin family is also the most important surname in the county and the crown family of a county.

Most of the younger generation of the Xin family were orthodox Confucian scholars, such as Xin Ping, Xin Pi, and Xin Ai.

On the surface, his temperament is somewhat similar to that of Xun Qu, and both are more indulgent and casual, but deep down, the two of them are completely different. Xun Qu’s liberation/unruly is due to the fact that his family was under the control of the party, his father and uncle were successively murdered by traitors, and he had a strong chest. He was sad and angry, but he had nowhere to vent, and it was difficult to resolve it, so he simply used alcohol to get rid of it, pretending to be mad to escape from the world. . Xin Ai's unfettered nature is entirely natural.

In a word: Xun Qu is similar to "Crazy Rendan", Xin Ai is "Romantic Free and Easy".

Because of this, when he heard the chaos of Taiping and Taoism, he felt that his talents finally had a place to be used. Xun Qu immediately became excited. Although he still retained some of the willful temperament he had developed over the years, in general, the mental outlook of the whole person had changed. Greatly changed and became formidable and forging ahead, but Xin Ai was still the same as before, not much changed.

If you want to talk about the change, he still has a little change: he replaced the wide band of the former robe with a leather armor with black background and red pattern.

The Xin family is of the Yangzhai clan. Xin Ai does not wear iron armor or leather armor, not because he can't find a suitable iron armor, but because he is not strong enough to wear iron armor.

A piece of iron armor usually consists of two or three thousand pieces of fish scale or leaf-shaped pieces. You can't wear it at all, and even if you wear it, you won't be able to go to the battlefield. If you can't walk after a few steps, how can you kill the enemy?

The guests under Xunzhen Gate were not all wearing iron armor, but some also wore leather armor. Most of the more than 100 people who were trained in Fanyang Pavilion wore leather armor. Most of the soldiers who defended the city were wearing leather armor, and those who wore armor were not as well-dressed as Xun Zhen. They were fully protected from the neck to the calf, but most of them only covered the chest and back.

Xun Zhen and Xin Ai have known each other for so many years, and their relationship has always been light. As far as Xun Zhen meant, he really wanted to have a good relationship with Xin Ai. Although Xin Ai was unknown in later generations, Xin Ping and Xin Pi were quite famous. The Xin family is also a famous noble family in this county. Being able to make friends with Xin Ai, Xin Ping, and Xin Pi will definitely help in the future.

Therefore, seeing Xin Ai take the initiative to talk to him, he smiled modestly: "Yulang is wrong. Yulang is elegant and romantic, and has heroic ambitions. Compared with you, what am I?"

...

Outside the city, the drums blared loudly, and the soldiers of the Yellow Turbans burst into mad cries.

Everyone looked outside the city.

There are about 4,000 or 5,000 Yellow Turban soldiers outside the east city wall, and about half of them are involved in the siege, more than 2,000 people.

These two thousand people were divided into seven or eight attacking squares, each with varying numbers, ranging from four to five hundred people, to as little as one or two hundred people.

Everyone can see that each square should be a battalion. In a regular army formation, such disparity in numbers between battalions is impossible. The reason for this is that the Yellow Turbans are roughly divided into camps according to "townships".

Some villagers have many people, and the camp head is large; some villagers have few people, and the camp head is small.

No matter how many people there are, each square is roughly divided into three parts. The soldiers in the front carried the pontoon bridge, the soldiers in the middle held various weapons and should be the main force of the siege, and the soldiers in the back carried rough ladders.

They shouted the slogan "The sky is dead, and the yellow sky stands." Driven by the battalions, they ran to the moat.

Xun Zhen stood on a high place and had an unobstructed view of the entire battlefield. In general, although there were quite a few Yellow Turban soldiers participating in the siege this time, the formation was scattered, with no rules to speak of, and it was like a mess of ducks.

He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The demon thief doesn't know the art of war, and the formation is not neat. It's nothing to worry about."

Watching the yellow turban soldiers approaching the moat little by little, Prefect Wen said nervously: "Quickly ask Zhang Zhangshi to come forward and shoot arrows to kill the thieves."

Xun You stopped his order and said, "The distance is still far away, and the bow and arrow cannot reach it. When he reaches the city, he will not be far behind."

As a soldier Cao Rong, Xun Zhen was the deputy of the prefect in the army. If Prefect Wen was not present, the county soldiers would take him at the head; now Prefect Wen is present, he is not qualified to issue orders. He knew that Prefect Wen didn't want to see him, so it was a last resort to appoint him as a soldier Cao Rong. In order to concentrate the strength of the whole city to defend the city, he also tried his best to restrain himself from overstepping and acting as a substitute, so as not to make Prefect Wen unhappy.

He said respectfully: "Mingfu can first order and ask each team of bowmen to prepare."

"Yes, yes. Send an order to make each team come forward and fire their crossbows to prepare."

His own messengers received the order and rushed to both sides of the city wall. While running, he conveyed the orders of the Governor Wen.

There were 200 crossbowmen on the east side of the city wall. After receiving the order, they took "Wu" as a unit, or carried bows and arrows, or carried crossbows, and they rushed to the battlements. Under the urging of the captains, the spearmen in the infantry also hurriedly lined up behind them.

Because they have never had the experience of defending the city, most of the bowmen and spearmen performed unsatisfactorily, appearing flustered, and some even fell to the ground.

Xun Zhen calmly looked at the performance of the county soldiers, and thought happily: "The county soldiers have not been in war for a long time, but they have performed abruptly and performed horribly. Fortunately, their opponents are weaker!"

The enemy and us are half a catty, and the siege is in a mess, and the defender is in a hurry.

...

The Yellow Turbans who were attacking the city came under the moat, and the soldiers at the forefront of the various phalanxes set up the pontoon bridges on the river one after another.

They were inexperienced, a total of eight pontoon bridges, three fell into the river during the construction process, and only five were successfully built.

After the pontoon was erected, the Yellow Turban soldiers adjusted their attack formation.

The three phalanxes that failed to form a pontoon bridge merged into other phalanxes.

The little marshals moved the soldiers who built the pontoon to the back, and a group of shield players were dispatched to replace them at the front of the line. Only a few of the so-called "shield hands" held real shields, and the rest held wooden boards rather than shields.

Behind the "shield man" is the bowman. There were not many bowmen in the Yellow Turban Army. There were more than 2,000 people in five square formations, and there were only more than 100 bowmen in total. More than 80% of them were bows and arrows, and very few used crossbows.

Xun Zhen squinted to feel the wind direction, and it was the south wind.

Although the wind is not large, it will still have some impact on the lighter arrows. The walls are high. It can be expected that in the upcoming offensive and defensive battle, these bow and arrow hands of the Yellow Turban Army will basically not pose any threat to the county soldiers.

After adjusting the formation, the Yellow Turbans began to attack.

The shieldman held his shield high and stepped on the pontoon half-bent. The bowmen followed behind them. Then behind is the main force of the siege. Finally, there are the soldiers carrying the ladder.

Prefect Wen clenched his saber subconsciously, and asked in a trembling voice, "Would you like to have Qi Zhang Shi open a crossbow?"

The crossbow of the Han Dynasty had a long range of up to 300 steps, and a short range of one or two hundred steps. The crossbows used by the archers in this county have different ranges. In order to achieve the best shooting effect, Xun Zhen said calmly: "Wait until they reach two hundred paces before firing the crossbow."

The people at the top of the city held their breath and watched the yellow turban soldiers under the city cross the moat and slowly approach.

Five hundred steps, four hundred steps, three hundred steps, two hundred and fifty steps.

Prefect Wen ordered: "I order Zhang Shi to fire crossbows and arrows."

Thanks to their usual drills, in the face of more than 2,000 Yellow Turban soldiers approaching the city, although most of the crossbowmen were flustered, they did not make any mistakes in the process of firing crossbows and setting arrows. One after another, the icy crossbow bolts hit the crossbow machine and aimed at the city. The archers also took out their arrows and put them on the bows.

The head of the city was silent, and everyone's eyes were on the Yellow Turban soldiers who were attacking the city, watching them approaching step by step.

Two hundred and thirty steps.

Two hundred and twenty steps.

Two hundred and five steps.

"Archery! Archery!"

Although the defenders are above the city, and the siege is below the city, when you are so close to the Yellow Turban soldiers, when you can see the hideous faces of almost every Yellow Turban soldier clearly, when you listen to their fanaticism. When he shouted, Prefect Wen couldn't help but panic and panic. His legs were trembling under his robes, pressing against the crenels, forcing himself not to collapse to the ground, and screamed.

More than a hundred crossbowmen and dozens of archers fired arrows at the same time.

The speed of the crossbow arrow was fast, and it had already shot into the formation of the Yellow Turban soldiers in the blink of an eye. The shields in front of them did not play a protective role at all, and dozens of Yellow Turban soldiers were shot with arrows one after another. Immediately afterwards, the slower arrows arrived again, and more than ten people were injured.

The Yellow Turbans will not attack cities. The county soldiers were nervous, and the Yellow Turban soldiers were also nervous. After crossing the river, they not only did not disperse in formation, but instead gathered even more. A wave of rapid fire caused nearly 100 casualties to them.

Looking from the top of the city, I saw that in the dense yellow turban army formation, as if being swept by the wind, a group of people fell down in an instant.

"Shoot again, shoot again!"

With the experience of the first wave of rapid shooting, and seeing the results of their own battles with their own eyes, the archers defending the city relaxed a lot, and methodically fired their crossbows, loaded arrows, and fired again. Another quick shot. The formation of the Yellow Turbans was hit again, and another fifty or sixty people fell to the ground.

The Yellow Turban soldiers who were shot by the arrow were killed on the spot, only a few were killed, and most of them were only injured. Some had arrows in their hands and feet, some in their shoulders, some in their chests, and some in their thighs. They were originally just farmers, how could they bear such pain? Rolling around and screaming.

A dramatic scene appeared: among the five square formations, in the southernmost square, the yellow scarf soldiers who fell behind the formation and carried the ladder threw the ladder, turned and ran away. Afterwards, the other Yellow Turban soldiers who were carrying the ladders in the other squares also dropped the ladders one after another and joined the escaping ranks. Driven by them, other Yellow Turban soldiers also began to flee. The shield and crossbowmen at the front of the formation heard the chaos behind them and stopped moving forward. After a brief hesitation, they also turned around and fled.

The city is a mess. More than 2,000 people crowded and stomped on each other, rushing to run outside the moat.

The coaches of each team were caught off guard and at a loss. Those who responded quickly raised their swords and tried to drive the fleeing soldiers back to the city, but to no avail. In the end, these young marshals had no choice but to be wrapped up by the Yellow Turban soldiers and retreated to the other side.

The people in the city did not expect such a thing to happen.

With only two arrows, the attack of thousands of Yellow Turban soldiers was repelled?

Prefect Wen, Zhong Yao, Xun Zhen and others were all stunned. The county soldiers were also stunned.

Prefect Wen only suspected that he was dreaming, and rubbed his eyes forcefully, but the scene outside the city remained the same. The pontoon was not wide, and many of the fleeing yellow turban soldiers were pushed down the river, like dumplings, and the sound of "plop, plop" was heard endlessly.

"This, this is going back?"

Not long ago, the thousands of Yellow Turban soldiers shouting fanatical slogans were still under pressure, but in the blink of an eye, they fled. This victory came so suddenly, not only Prefect Wen, but also Xun Zhen and others couldn't believe it.

When you think about it, it's not surprising.

No matter how many Yellow Turbans were, they were still just a troop of peasants. Without discipline and training, it was no problem to fight against the wind.

Because I didn't expect that the Yellow Turbans would be defeated so quickly~www.readwn.com~ The city was not ready to pursue it.

Zhong Yao looked at the yellow turban soldiers who fled to the other side with regret, and said, "It's a pity. If you had known that the demon thief was so unbearable, you should have prepared hundreds of soldiers in advance, so that you can take advantage of the chaos and go out of the city."

Xun Zhen turned his attention to the main force of Bo Cai in the distance. Although he was surprised that the Yellow Turban soldiers would be defeated so quickly, he was not as optimistic as Wen Taishou and Zhong Yao. After all, he had previously gone out of town and faced off against the Yellow Turbans.

At that time, his feeling was that although the Yellow Turbans did not know how to fight in battle, perhaps because of their religious fanaticism, their fighting spirit was still good. Otherwise, the guests he took out of the city would not have suffered more than ten casualties. The scene of the fleeing under the city at this time was only because this was their first siege of the city. After absorbing the experience of this failed siege, their next attack will definitely become more violent.

An hour later, his guess was verified.

Bocai dispatched more than a dozen squads, and from among the fleeing Yellow Turban soldiers, they picked out dozens of those who escaped first. They escorted them to the front of the battle and headed them in front of the crowd. Afterwards, they reorganized their formation and started the second attack.

——

1. A good piece of iron armor usually consists of two or three thousand pieces of fish-scale or leaf-shaped armor.

In general, the development trend of ancient Chinese armor is that the workmanship is getting more and more fine, the armor pieces are getting smaller and smaller, and the number is increasing.

Compared with the Eastern Zhou and Qin Dynasties, the number of pieces of armor in the two Han Dynasties increased greatly.

"The early tomb armor of the King of Qi in Linzi was made of 2142 pieces, and the other was made of 2242 pieces. The armor of the Han Tomb No. 1 in Mancheng was made up of 2859 pieces. The tomb armor of the King of Nanyue in Guangzhou was not covered, and it was still made of 709 pieces. A piece of armor unearthed from the arsenal of Chang'an City in the Han Dynasty consists of 3741 pieces, ..., the average number of armor pieces used in them is more than 2000 pieces."

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