Xiao Ruxun nodded and said, "That shouldn't be wrong. However, the speed of the cavalry and the main infantry force is different. The main infantry force needs two days, but the cavalry can arrive in less than a day. Bo Bai and his son are extremely cunning and cannot be treated as a motley crew. The rebel army probably doesn't know that our army has already made preparations and closed the city gates. If they send the cavalry to launch a surprise attack at night, even if there aren't many of them, if our army is unprepared and our firearms can't be fired in time, there might be a risk of the city being breached."
"General, are you saying that the main force is a decoy, and the real trump card …" Zhao Hu looked surprised. "They have already set off and will soon launch an attack?"
"I heard that Bo Bai is proficient in horsemanship. Years ago, Wang Chonggu allowed him to have two thousand personal cavalry, which allows him to travel extremely fast. They can travel four hundred li in a day and a night. They placed their main infantry force on the west side and purposely let the sentries find out, attracting the attention of our main force. This will cause our main force to gather at the west side of the city, while secretly sending an elite force to attack one of the other three gates. No matter which gate is breached, it will be a dead end for me."
Although Zhao Hu wasn't too convinced, he still felt a little worried. "General's words may not be unreasonable. The rebel army is currently fighting on two fronts. They must want to take Pinglu as soon as possible, stabilize the west side, and use all their strength to cross the Yellow River. Every day we hold out here is a threat to the rebel army's lair. Then, what should we do?"
Xiao Ruxun slowly said, "I'm not worried during the day, but I'm worried that at night, some of them will sneak into the city and try to launch a night attack. That would be terrible. How about this, Bo Wei, you go and rest first. Leave the defense to your subordinates and arrange for the soldiers to take turns to rest and keep watch. As I said, each gate must be guarded by at least two hundred soldiers and at least five Francon cannons. Then, when night falls, you will go on night patrol. You must patrol all four city gates. If there is any alarm, immediately report it to the entire city! With our current situation, we cannot afford to slack off. "
I nodded and cupped my fists to accept the order. "Understood!"
Xiao Ruxun nodded and was just about to leave when she saw the night torches stacked in the corner of the city walls. She suddenly thought of something, "Bo Wei, you have to pay attention to these torches. When you bring people to patrol at night, don't light any torches. On the city walls where torches are lit, don't place more than one soldier in the surroundings that can be seen clearly. Let the main night watchmen stay in the dark corners. If the thieves really come to attack at night, they will definitely observe how many night watchmen we have on the city walls before making their move. The enemy is in the dark while we are in the light.
At this time, the night watchmen are very important. You have to tell the soldiers who are in the dark that if they discover someone attacking at night, they should not make a noise. Instead, they should wait for the enemy to appear. Suddenly, light the torches and shoot the arrows. This will greatly intimidate the enemy and make them think that we have taken precautions. This is a trap that we have set. This will cause the enemy's morale to be disrupted and they will only know to retreat and not resist. At this time, they will rush out to kill the enemy and we will be able to defeat them in one go. "
Zhao Hu suddenly understood and nodded his head. "I understand. General, please rest assured."
Xiao Ruxun patrolled one more time and explained some of the key points to Zhao Hu in detail. Only then did he leave with peace of mind. Zhao Hu and Chen Xie discussed the arrangements for the night watchmen. He then found a room to lie down and rest. When he woke up, the sun was already setting in the west.
The days in March were not long, unlike the longer days in summer. Not long after the sun set, torches were needed to illuminate the city. Zhao Hu followed Xiao Ruxun's instructions and lit fewer torches. Most of the torches were in the hands of the night watchmen. Only one soldier was assigned to light the torches. The rest of the soldiers were to stay in places where the gap between the torches could not illuminate and secretly observe everything.
Zhao Hu led a team of guards and slowly patrolled around the city wall. After Xiao Ruxun's reminder during the day, Zhao Hu also raised his guard and carefully observed the movements on the city wall.
The night gradually deepened. A bright moon hung on the horizon, silently watching the entire land. Occasionally, a few clouds floated by, blocking a trace of moonlight. On the land, it seemed that only the top of Ping Lu's city wall had the glow of the burning torches.
Zhao Hu led his troops to the east city gate. To the east of Ping Lu was a tributary of the Yellow River. The land east of the river was still under the control of the Ming Army. Bo Bai's rebel army did not dare to go around Ping Lu to cross the Yellow River to the east for fear of being cut off by the Ming Army in Ping Lu. Therefore, when Zhao Hu sent out the sentries, he did not send them to the east. However, Zhao Hu still followed Xiao Ruxun's instructions. Even in the east city, he arranged for one hundred soldiers to keep watch at night. There were fifteen in the light and eighty-five in the dark.
When Zhao Hu led his men on patrol, he passed by the east city wall. Because the east city wall was the most dilapidated and there were a few sections that were shorter, he paid extra attention. In the end, he discovered that many of the soldiers in the dark were dozing off. Zhao Hu was furious and knocked on the soldiers who were dozing off one by one. However, he only knocked them and did not reprimand them. When they all recovered, Zhao Hu was satisfied and walked up the stairs to the south city wall.
Just as he led his men past the stairs, Zhao Hu seemed to hear something. He frowned and waved his hand to signal for his followers to stop and squat down. He quietly crept to a corner of the city wall and peeked his head out to observe. With one look, he was shocked. The fifteen soldiers standing under the torches were all lying on the ground. It was unknown whether they were dead or alive. There was also a whole row of flying claws on the battlements of the city wall.
The general was right! The rebel army really dared to attack at night! It had only been three days!
Zhao Hu noticed that the soldiers in the dark had all squatted down on the ground and began to stand guard. He relaxed slightly and gave a signal to the soldiers behind him. Swords were unsheathed, bows were nocked, torches were ready, and whistling arrows were ready!
A row of about twenty black-robed figures appeared in Zhao Hu's vision. Time waited for no man!
"Light the fire! Release the whistling arrows! Brothers! Kill the thieves! "
Zhao Hu suddenly stood up and shouted. At the same time, the torches were lit up and dozens of whistling arrows flew into the sky. With a "pa" sound, they exploded. The night guards hidden in the dark were already fully prepared. They shouted and charged forward. A short while later, the whistling arrows from the other three city gates were fired into the sky. Dozens of torches were suddenly lit up and the flames grew brighter!
Zhao Hu led the way and charged toward the black robed rebel soldiers. With one slash, he killed a panicking rebel soldier. One of the rebel soldiers reacted quickly and immediately shouted, "There's an ambush! Move quickly … ah … "
Before he could finish, Zhao Hu pounced forward and finished him off with a single slash. The remaining dozen or so people were chopped into pieces by the soldiers. Zhao Hu shouted again, "Cut the flying claw ropes!!"
When the soldiers heard this, they charged forward with their sabers and cut off all the ropes. Then, Zhao Hu immediately ordered, "Archers, get ready to shoot down! It doesn't matter if you can see it or not! Fire! "
The moonlight was bright and the sky was not completely dark. However, the light was dim and the soldiers could not see clearly how many enemy soldiers there were below. In any case, they were shooting arrows at the bottom of the city walls. They could also hear some screams and panicked shouts of 'retreat'. Zhao Hu lit a torch and looked down the city walls, but in the end, he could not see too many enemy soldiers.
Listening carefully, the situation at the other three gates wasn't intense. Zhao Hu heaved a sigh of relief.
Xiao Ruxun was right. The rebels had really come. This situation couldn't be explained. It could only be said that the rebels were confident in their own combat abilities. They had used light cavalry to attack Ping Lu City. Furthermore, they had laid in ambush at the bottom of Ping Lu City until night. Using the flying claws as climbing tools, they attempted to take down the city walls.
This wasn't a rare tactic of raiding and sieging a city. But what Zhao Hu didn't expect was for their reaction to be so intense. Almost as soon as the defeated army retreated, the Light Cavalry came rushing over. If it weren't for Xiao Ruxun's' overthinking ', they might really have been ambushed by the Thieves in the night.
The rebels were indeed cunning and didn't only know how to use brute force.
Within the city, because of the sudden sound of the whistling arrows, the battle bell rang. Everyone in the city was shocked out of their dreams. Xiao Ruxun was the first to open his eyes and get up. After comforting the frightened Yang Caiyun, he quickly put on his armor and walked out of the residence. He saw a soldier reporting, "General, it's the East City. It's the East City. The whistling arrows were the first to appear in the East City. Then, all four gates were hit with whistling arrows. The battle bell has been rung. Everyone in the city should know about it!"
Xiao Ruxun nodded his head and ordered, "Split into several groups. Ride your horses up and down the main roads of the city. Loudly announce to the residents that the rebels have been defeated. From this moment onwards, the residents are not allowed to take a step out of their houses without orders. Anyone who disobeys will be punished with the crime of colluding with the enemy!"
The soldier nodded, "Yes, Sir!"
Xiao Ruxun focused his gaze on the East City.
He was right. These rebels were not brainless. Lao Bai and his son had been through the battlefield for a long time. No matter how stupid they were, if they could survive the battlefield for a long time, they would definitely be wise under the guise of stupidity. Those who could survive the battlefield were not stupid. This was something that must be kept in mind.
Right now, it was uncertain how many rebels there were, but it definitely wasn't a lot. At this speed, they would definitely need horses. Bo Bai's main force of cavalry would be used to deal with Wei Xuezeng. He definitely wouldn't be able to spare too many cavalry for Pingluo City. This kind of night attack would only happen once. After this failure, the rebels would be frightened and wouldn't dare to launch another night attack. Knowing that the city was impregnable, the leader of the cavalry probably wouldn't dare to use his troops again. It wasn't easy to train cavalry. If too many of them died, the rebels wouldn't be able to bear the consequences.
The next attack would probably be the main force of the rebels attacking the city. It would probably happen in one or two days.
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