Ouyang Shuo stood on the West City Tower and saw three signal flares rising in the northern sky. He immediately felt relieved. According to the rules of Shanhai Town, three signal flares meant that they had encountered the enemy and successfully repelled them.
Huo Yang was not as relaxed as Ouyang Shuo. The fleeing bandits did not dare to disappear without a trace. After leaving the battle, they immediately sent people ashore to report the military situation to the great leader.
By the time Huo Yang received the news, it was already ten in the morning. At this time, all the siege equipment had been assembled, and even the pontoon bridge that served as a diversion had been set up.
At this moment, he suddenly received news that the navy was defeated and even his younger brother, Huo Liu, was captured by the other party. How could Huo Yang not be furious? He executed the pirate who reported the news on the spot.
Originally, Huo Yang wanted to cooperate with the pirates to restrain the garrison of Shanhai Town. He did not expect that Shanhai Town was already prepared and had a regular navy. It was really a bad start.
There was no point in waiting any longer. Huo Yang was also a decisive person. He ordered the entire army to set off and officially attack the west gate of Shanhai Town.
Each wall of Shanhai Town was three kilometers long. According to the average soldier occupying one meter of space, in theory, 3,000 people could stand in a row. Six thousand bandits were only enough to form two rows.
Of course, that was not the way to fight a war. Of course, Huo Yang was not stupid enough to spread his offensive line so wide. Facing the stone walls of Shanhai Town, the only way to break through the city was to break through the city gates.
The 3,000 ordinary bandits were at the front. Their role was to consume the resources of Shanhai Town and pave the way for the 2,000 elite bandits to break through the city.
As for the 1,000 cavalrymen led by the Black Knights, they could not play a role during the siege. They were arranged by Huo Yang to cover the middle army and provide support.
Facing the charging bandits, the archers arranged in the west immediately started shooting under Zhao Sihu's command. Unfortunately, the Shanhai Town's City Defense Camp only had two archer and two crossbowman squadrons. There were too few of them and their lethality was limited.
A round of volleys could only cause 200 casualties at most. After three rounds of volleys, the bandits had already rushed under the city wall. At this moment, the archers among the elite bandits in the back row also started to counterattack.
In order to make up for the difference, the roving bandits specially assembled mobile arrow towers. The elite bandits stood on the archer towers and fired at the city walls. Therefore, the archers of both sides began to shoot at each other, striving to get rid of the opponent's long-range attack power in the shortest time possible.
The Three Thousand Roving Bandits who took the lead were naturally not empty-handed. Fifteen well-assembled scaling ladders were slowly pushed to the bottom of the city wall. Once the ladder was successfully hooked onto the city wall, the bandits hiding under the ladder could quickly climb up the city wall through the ladder.
After discovering the other party's scaling ladders, Shi Wansui decisively commanded the eight hundred blade and shield troops to quickly adjust their respective defense areas. Each scaling ladder was guarded by fifty people. The remaining fifty would serve as a reserve force, ready to reinforce the various defense sectors at any time.
A large number of rolling logs and boulders were unceremoniously thrown down by the city guards towards the roving bandits below the scaling ladders. Every time they attacked, there would be many casualties. For a moment, the bandits were unable to attack the city wall.
Meanwhile, behind the bandits, five catapults were already in position, starting to hurl stone balls. The huge stone balls moved like cannonballs, arcing through the air and smashing into the city wall. Once the soldiers guarding the city were hit by the stone balls, they would immediately turn into a pile of meat paste.
Seeing the tragic scene before her, Mu Lanyue, who was watching from the side, could no longer endure it. Ouyang Shuo arranged for her to rest in the resting room in the city tower.
Seeing that the city guards were in a disadvantageous situation, the Divine Strategy Battalion finally showed its might. Under Wang Yuanfeng's command, two Three-Bow Eight-Bull Bed Crossbows aimed at the five catapults and fired a volley of Jackdaw Arrows. How could the bandits operating the catapults expect to be hit from so far away? They all fell to the ground after being hit by the arrows.
In less than half an hour, the Divine Strategy Battalion completely suppressed the five catapults. No one who was not afraid of death dared to operate the catapults anymore.
Seeing the Divine Strategy Battalion's might, the eyes of Bai Hua and the others immediately lit up as they turned their heads to look at Ouyang Shuo.
Ouyang Shuo smiled bitterly and shook his head. Then, he said, "That is the Three-Bow Eight-Bull Bed Crossbow. It is the most powerful bed crossbow recorded in the Song Dynasty Crossbow Manufacturing Technical Manual that we obtained at the auction. Don't look at me like that. Although this thing is powerful, it is extremely difficult to manufacture. Shanhai Town has only managed to make these two in the one and a half months since they obtained the Song Dynasty Crossbow Manufacturing Technical Manual. "
Bai Hua smiled faintly and said, "Wuyi, in any case, there is still some time before Lingxi Town advances. We still have time. At that time, you have to sell me two. "
"We'll see when the time comes!" Ouyang Shuo did not dare to guarantee anything.
"Wuyi, you can't be biased," Feng Qiuhuang chimed in.
"Feng Wu, you can forget about it. Your Luofeng Town is already close to advancing. You definitely won't make it in time." Ouyang Shuo quickly made his stance clear.
However, the Dragon Seeking Acupoint and Siege Lion Clansmen did not seem concerned. In reality, this was their territory. There was still a long time before they could advance. It was not the time to be anxious.
In the rear of the bandits, seeing that their catapults had been suppressed, Huo Gang's expression turned grave. He turned his head to look around and shouted, "Do any of you know what kind of crossbow the enemy is using to have such a long range?"
A bandit stood out and said uncertainly, "Great Leader, I heard that the imperial army has a kind of defensive weapon called the bed crossbow. It has an extremely long range. Could it be that weapon?"
Huo Gang nodded. "Most likely. It seems that the other side is really a tough nut to crack."
"Then what do we do now?"
"Send another thousand elite soldiers up. We must put pressure on the enemy." Huo Gang decisively ordered.
"Yes!"
Although they had successfully eliminated the threat of the catapults, the defending side was still in constant danger. In the end, there were still too few people. On average, there were only fifty blade and shield soldiers near each ladder. They had to endure the arrows from the other side while guarding against the enemy climbing up from the ladders. At the same time, they had to move logs and boulders down. These logs and boulders were not light. Moving them over a long period of time was a huge drain on their stamina.
At this time, the other side actually sent another thousand elite bandits. The danger immediately increased.
Seeing that the other side had made up their mind to focus on one gate, Ouyang Shuo no longer hesitated. He summoned a messenger and told him to inform the commander of the north gate, Ge Hongliang, to transfer three platoons of blade and shield soldiers from the north gate's garrison to rush to the west gate to participate in the defense.
In this way, there were only four hundred people left in the north gate's garrison. These four hundred people were the thousand elite bandits who had yet to go up to deal with the bandits. Ouyang Shuo was worried that the other side would take advantage of the battle at the west gate to suddenly pass through the pontoon bridge and attack the north gate. Thus, he had to be on guard.
Before the north gate's reinforcements arrived, the west gate was already in danger.
The combat strength of the elite bandits was twice that of the ordinary bandits. The addition of such a new force immediately plunged the soldiers guarding the city into a crisis.
Ouyang Shuo made a prompt decision and ordered the five hundred civilian soldiers who were still on standby near the city wall to climb up the city wall. They took over the duties of the blade and shield soldiers and were responsible for throwing logs and boulders down.
He had no choice but to let the civilian soldiers take the field. These civilians had not experienced the baptism of war. It was unknown whether they could complete the task when they were sent to the city wall and faced with a massacre.
It was normal for ordinary people to feel their limbs go soft when they saw such a scene. Who would have the courage to throw logs and boulders down to kill the enemy?
Seeing that the situation was not right, Ouyang Shuo knew that he had to boost the morale at this time. Ouyang Shuo held his spear and apologized to Bai Hua and the others. He immediately rushed to the front line and took the lead.
The current Ouyang Shuo was no longer an ignorant person.
Whether it was the Yang family's spear technique or the Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor, they were constantly increasing his combat strength. When facing the bandits, he would often just stab them to death with his spear. He already had some of the elegance of Shi Wansui in the past.
Seeing the lord personally kill the enemy, and so valiantly. In an instant, whether it was the blade and shield soldiers or the civilian soldiers, their morale immediately rose. The commoners overcame their fear, risking their lives to throw pieces of rolling logs and boulders at the bandits who were charging at them.
With the civilian team sharing the pressure from the side, the saber and shield soldiers could fight freely with the bandits that charged at them, forcing them to retreat time and time again. The 1st Infantry Battalion in charge of defending the west side was the most elite unit among the infantry. Even when facing elite bandits, they still had the upper hand.
Of course, because of the disparity in numbers, the situation was still disadvantageous to Shanhai Town.
At the most critical moment, Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to give the order to use the last secret weapon, the Fierce Fire Oil Tank. Originally, he planned to use this trump card at the last moment to decide the outcome of the battle.
The Fierce Fire Oil Tank was indeed powerful. Even though the other side's ladder had been fireproof, it was still set ablaze by the raging flames of the Fierce Fire Oil Tank. The raging fire immediately destroyed the two ladders. The only regret was that it was not convenient to move the Fierce Fire Oil Tank.
By the time the blade and shield soldiers arrived from the north gate as reinforcements, the soldiers guarding the city had already suffered heavy losses. Fortunately, the addition of this batch of fresh troops finally stabilized the situation.
Seeing that the attack was not successful and it was almost noon, Huo Jie could only give the order to temporarily retreat.
On the side of Shanhai Town, while the other side retreated, the medical team immediately rushed over and bandaged the injured soldiers. The seriously injured soldiers were carried down the city wall and sent to the medical center for treatment. The civilian soldiers began to clean up the defensive supplies and transported a new batch of supplies to the city wall for use in the afternoon. (To be continued.)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
