"Clack."
After going through hardships and obstacles, the cavalry finally hung the chain on the custom-made iron ring at the end of the crossbow.
After completing the task, the captain heaved a sigh of relief and looked around. There were a hundred people in the team, but only four could still stand. The rest were either killed or seriously injured.
Seeing the captain looking over, the wounded man on the ground grinned. "Captain, you go, don't worry about us." It was difficult to come here, so it was naturally not easy to go back.
It was almost impossible for them to rush out with these injured people.
When they accepted the task, they were ready to die.
The captain, however, was extremely strong-willed. Without saying anything, he rushed out with a wounded man on his back. Seeing this, the remaining four men followed suit, each carrying a wounded man, braving the rain of arrows and running back the way they came.
Whether they could survive or not, it was up to fate.
The division commander in the distance saw this and smiled. "Not bad, that's more like my soldiers. Send a team to meet them, and the rest to provide cover fire. "
"Yes!"
As he spoke, a team of cavalry rushed out.
The front row of cavalry drew their bows one by one and poured arrows at the top of the city wall, interfering with the enemy's attack.
Seeing this, the guarding general said in a cold voice, "Still want to leave? Stop them! "If the enemy was allowed to come and go as they pleased, the face of the Great Zhou Army would be lost.
"Yes!"
Both sides poured arrows at each other, fighting happily.
Perhaps it was really a blessing from the heavens, under such a dense rain of arrows, all ten cavalrymen successfully converged with the support troops, and none of them fell behind.
Seeing this, the guarding general's face darkened.
What really made the guarding general's face change was yet to come. After the cavalry returned, the Great Xia imperial army made a new move. Eight of the tallest and most powerful Ironbacks, hooked to rods, pulled the iron chains, and began to move.
The long iron chains straightened at once.
At this point, the secret weapon of the Great Xia imperial army was finally revealed. It was actually going to use the crossbow arrows that drilled into the city gate and the brute force of the Ironbacks to pull down the city gate.
"Ha!"
Under the command of the cavalry, the eight Ironbacks rushed forward, and because their hooves grabbed the ground too hard, even the ground caved in, showing their great strength.
"Moo ~ ~ ~"
The Ironback's head leaned forward slightly, and its front claws scratched the ground hard, struggling to move forward.
Under the fierce pull of the Iron-Armored Beast, the city gate made a creaking sound, and the bolt had begun to deform, seeming to be overwhelmed.
The expressions of the guards on the city wall changed drastically when they saw this. Only now did they understand the enemy's true intentions.
"General, what should we do?"
The soldiers of Great Zhou turned pale at the thought of the 200,000 Imperial Guards rushing into the city if the city gates were pulled down.
The general guarding the city was also helpless.
The chains were impervious to oil and were immune to arrows. Even if rocks were used to smash them, the chains were already taut, and the rocks would bounce off the moment they hit the chains. It was of no use at all.
The only way seemed to be to take the initiative to leave the city, but this was also the worst way.
"Creak ~ ~ Creak ~ ~"
In just a short while, the city gate was completely deformed, and it looked like it was about to collapse.
"There's no other way. Prepare for battle!" The defending generals knew that they were powerless to stop the enemy from breaking into the city. Their only choice was to fight the enemy inside the city.
After hearing the general's words, the expressions of the surrounding soldiers changed, and they looked around anxiously.
How could they defeat the 200,000 Imperial Guards with just 70,000 of them? Even the most powerful Imperial Guards of the imperial court, the Imperial Guards, were defeated by the Imperial Guards of Great Xia.
Moreover, they only had one-third of the enemy's numbers. If they were to really fight, they would definitely die. At the thought of the fact that the east gate was not blocked yet, there were already soldiers plotting how to successfully break away from the battle and escape to the east gate.
"Boom!"
The west gate was the first to collapse, and it crashed to the ground.
"Charge!"
The commander of the second army, Ma Chao, waved his spear and gave the order to attack.
"Kill!"
Upon receiving the military order, groups of cavalrymen rushed towards the city gate like a flood, turning a blind eye to the arrows shooting over their heads. In the face of absolute numbers, the rain of arrows was no longer too much of a threat to the army.
The vast army galloped on the bluestone streets, emitting clattering sounds.
At the end of the street, the Great Zhou Army hastily got into formation and looked at the approaching army in fear. Their legs were trembling. The fearsome reputation of the Imperial Guards of Great Xia was truly terrifying.
This was a completely asymmetrical battle.
Almost at the same time, the north and south gates were also broken. The third and fourth army followed suit and charged into the city. It was as though the three armies were competing, and they were bound to set off a monstrous massacre in the city.
Huo Qubing, who was outside the city, did not seem to be excited at all.
He had long expected such an outcome. To the Imperial Guards, taking down Pingshan City was just a warm-up. Next, they had to create a huge wave in the entire capital province.
In just one morning, Pingshan City was completely taken down by the Imperial Guards of Great Xia.
In fact, the three armies had fought in the city for less than an hour before the Great Zhou Army completely collapsed. They no longer had the will to fight, and they either surrendered or fled to the east gate.
The city guards were trampled into meat paste by the chaotic army.
After killing the guards, the Imperial Guards of Great Xia did not hesitate to set fire to more than ten large granaries in the city, leaving not a single grain behind.
The flames soared into the sky, and thick smoke billowed. It could be seen from afar.
The imperial court of Great Zhou was frugal, and the food that they had painstakingly plundered from the commoners was burned to the ground just like that. The commoners in the city were heartbroken to see this.
Reality was so cruel.
Although the Great Jin Dynasty and the Central Plains Province lacked food, they could only burn it since they could not bring it away.
Without this batch of food, the military operations of Great Zhou in Great Jin could no longer continue, and it basically meant that the war with Great Jin would end prematurely. Under such circumstances, if Great Zhou still wanted to attack Great Jin, they would only be asking for trouble.
More importantly, the destructive power of the Imperial Guards of Great Xia had only just begun.
After burning the food, the Imperial Guards of Great Xia did not linger. After having a full meal in the city, they retreated like the tide with the prisoners of war. This batch of prisoners of war was the secret weapon that the Imperial Guards of Great Xia used to break into other cities.
In the next two days, the Imperial Guards of Great Xia persevered and took down another three cities. Without exception, these cities were all transit stations for provisions that had been set up along the way, and they were all wiped out.
In these three days, the Imperial Guards of Great Xia did not even use a single ration pill, and they were all taken care of on the spot.
Under the command of Huo Qubing, the army that Wu Qi sent as reinforcements could only eat dirt behind the Imperial Guards of Great Xia, and they could not even see the shadow of the Imperial Guards.
This time, Great Zhou was in a complete panic.
The wave of fear that the Imperial Guards of Great Xia caused spread rapidly from the west to the east. If not for the tradition of the Imperial Guards of Great Xia not to disturb the people, it would have caused a wave of refugees.
Even so, the people were still panicking.
Even the commoners of Handan City began to tremble in fear, afraid that they would wake up as slaves of a conquered country. Based on the advancing speed of the Imperial Guards of Great Xia, it would take them at most two days to reach Handan City.
At this moment, something strange happened.
On the 13th day of the eighth month, the Imperial Guards of Great Xia who were about to reach Handan City suddenly made a huge turn and went around the boundaries of Handan City. They marched rapidly all the way to the border of the capital province and the Qing Dynasty.
It seemed that there was something in Handan City that the Imperial Guards of Great Xia were afraid of.
"What is going on?"
The commoners of Handan who had a new lease on life were baffled. Living under the feet of the Emperor, there was no lack of well-informed people in Handan City. They knew that other than the three thousand Imperial Guards, there was also the Capital Garrison Regiment.
This small number of troops should not have caused the Imperial Guards of Great Xia to be afraid.
Someone joked, "Could it be that the prestige of the Emperor has caused the enemy to be afraid of battle?" The person who said this did not believe that their Emperor could have such a prestige.
Even Emperor Xia could not do this.
This matter became the biggest mystery in Handan City, and only a few people knew the inside story.
…
Handan City, Palace.
Di Chen sighed regretfully after knowing that the Imperial Guards of Great Xia had suddenly gone around Handan City.
As it turned out, just as the Imperial Guards of Great Xia were showing their might, Di Chen finally invited reinforcements from the Imperial Guards of Qin and Tang.
The two countries promised that if the Imperial Guards of Great Xia dared to attack Handan City, the Imperial Guards of both countries would immediately be teleported to Handan City. They would surround the Imperial Guards of Great Xia and dampen their spirits.
Among them, Emperor Qin was the most proactive.
Thinking about it, the direct rejection from Meng Yi and Meng Tian made the Emperor of Great Xia feel very embarrassed and decided to get back at the battlefield in Handan City.
As for the two Emperors who were worried about a direct confrontation with the Xia Kingdom, they had already seen through it.
The situation in Huaxia had developed to this point. Whether or not the Qin and Tang Kingdoms would intervene in the war in the Central Plains, there was no room for reconciliation between them and the Xia Kingdom.
One day, both sides would meet on the battlefield.
Since that was the case, there was no difference whether it was a day earlier or a day later.
What Di Chen and the others did not expect was that the secret agents of the Mountain Sea Guards had found out about their conspiracy. This alerted the Imperial Guards of Great Xia and they did not even go near Handan City. This caused the alliance of the six countries to miss a golden opportunity.
"This favor has been wasted. What a bastard."
In order to invite the Qin and Tang Kingdoms for reinforcements, Di Chen did not get any benefits. He spent a lot of effort to convince the two countries to officially intervene in the Central Plains war. He did not expect this to be the outcome.
For the first time, Di Chen had a whole new level of respect for the legendary Mountain Sea Guards.
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