The War Preparedness Division delivered hot meals to reward the soldiers defending the city.
At this time, no one dared to leave the city walls. Even Ouyang Shuo didn't leave. He had Sangu Restaurant prepare some food and wine and sent it to the resting room of the city tower to entertain Bai Hua and the others.
During the lunch break, the members of the Mountain-Sea Alliance ate and chatted. The topic of their conversation was naturally the bandit siege that had just ended.
"I didn't expect the bandits to fight so fiercely," Xunlong Acupoint sighed.
"Yeah, I don't even have confidence anymore." Feng Qiuhuang echoed, a look of uncertainty on her face.
Bai Hua looked at Ouyang Shuo worriedly and asked, "Wuyi, are you confident about the afternoon attack?" The others also looked at Ouyang Shuo with concern.
Ouyang Shuo smiled and said, "It's fine. We blocked the bandits' fierce attack in the morning, and the enemy has lost their spirit. As long as we don't make any mistakes in the afternoon, we should be able to stop them. "
"But the Mountain-Sea Town's army also suffered heavy losses in the morning. Moreover, the enemy still has 1,000 elite bandits and 1,000 cavalrymen who haven't moved out yet. "Bai Hua wasn't as optimistic as Ouyang Shuo.
According to the post-battle statistics, among the 6,700 bandits, of the 700 bandits, 200 died in battle, 300 were captured, and 200 escaped. Of the 3,000 ordinary bandits, 1,200 died in battle, and of the 1,000 elite bandits, 300 died in battle. In other words, the bandits still had more than half of their fighting strength. Of course, such heavy losses were a fatal blow to the bandits' morale. Whether they could fight as hard as they did in the afternoon was a big question mark.
On the Mountain-Sea Town's side, 50 of the Northsea Fleet's 500 sailors had died, 50 of the 400 archers of the Mountain-Sea Town's City Defense Camp had died, 200 of the 1100 saber and shield soldiers had died, and 80 of the 500 commoners had died. Compared to the bandits, the casualty ratio was about 1: 5, which was already an ideal ratio.
"The bandits have suffered more losses than us. Let's see how they deal with it in the afternoon." Ouyang Shuo pointed out.
...
At the same time, in the bandit camp.
"Big Brother, the situation isn't looking good. How should we deal with it in the afternoon?" Shadow Knight asked.
Huo Fan was very calm. He chuckled and said, "Second Brother, it's your turn in the afternoon."
"What do you mean?" The Shadow Knights were puzzled.
"In the morning, I arranged for people to build the pontoon bridge. I had already made preparations for both eventualities. During the siege in the morning, according to the reports of the soldiers who had retreated, the enemy had called in a batch of reinforcements at the last moment. These reinforcements must have come from the North Gate or the East Gate. This way, the defenses of Shanhai Town at the north and east gates will be further weakened. This is our opportunity. Second Brother, immediately take your cavalry and make a detour from the rear. Cross the moat from the pontoon bridge and launch a surprise attack on the enemy's north gate. Remember, you have to wait until after the west gate attacks. You can't attack ahead of time. Otherwise, the other side will be on guard. Do you understand? "Huo Gang explained.
"Understood!" the Shadow Knight said excitedly.
…
At one o 'clock in the afternoon, the bandits launched another attack. This time, Huo Yang did not leave any reserve troops. He ordered the entire army to press forward and put a lot of pressure on the West Gate so that Shanhai Town would have no time to deal with the North Gate.
Ouyang Shuo stood on the city gate tower and saw that the 1,000 cavalrymen on the flank of the bandits had disappeared. He immediately had a bad premonition.
Sure enough, in the northern sky, a signal flare rose. This meant that they were under attack.
"Messenger!"
"Here!"
"Order the Northsea Fleet to immediately enter the moat and assist in the defense of the North Gate."
"Understood!"
After the messenger left, Bai Hua sighed and said, "These bandits are indeed cunning and shrewd. Once they find a loophole in our defense, they don't hesitate to fight."
Ouyang Shuo chuckled and said, "Originally, I didn't have absolute confidence. But now, I can be sure that Shanhai Town will definitely win this attack."
"What do you mean?"
"The bandits think they're smart. They want to use the idle cavalry to attack the North Gate of Shanhai Town. However, they don't know that there are still 400 soldiers guarding the North Gate and the Northsea Fleet supporting them. With just the 1,000 cavalrymen, it's impossible to break through the North Gate in a short period of time. More importantly, the six hundred cavalrymen who were lying in ambush at the west gate of Shanhai Town would have a place to fight if the enemy moved their cavalry away. Originally, the bandits had 1,000 cavalrymen protecting the flank, so I didn't dare to send them out. Now that they're courting death, they can't blame me, "Ouyang Shuo explained.
Bai Hua's eyes lit up, and he said with a smile, "I see. The enemy definitely didn't expect Shanhai Town to have so many cavalrymen. They've been biding their time."
Ouyang Shuo nodded and called for the messenger again. "Pass down my order. Tell General Lin to get ready to leave the city at any time and wait for my orders."
"Understood!"
"Brother Wuyi, why don't you let the cavalry attack now?" Mu Lanyue asked curiously. The little girl had finally adapted to the battlefield environment and walked out of the resting room.
Ouyang Shuo smiled and explained, "Right now, the bandits have just launched their attack. Be it their stamina or morale, they're at their peak. It's not a good time to attack."
"Oh!"
An hour later, the battle on the West Gate was still in a stalemate. Although the bandits had a new 1,000 elite soldiers, the defending soldiers also had 300 more reinforcements. Coupled with the Fierce Fire Oil Tank, the two sides were still evenly matched.
The sneak attack at the North Gate was thwarted, and the West Gate was in a stalemate. Huo Yang finally couldn't stay calm anymore. Especially with the increase in casualties, the bandits' morale had fallen to a critical point. If he didn't take action now, there might be deserters. Huo Yang did not dare to delay. He decided to personally take action to boost morale.
Ouyang Shuo stood on the city gate tower. When he saw the bandit leader finally join the battle, he relaxed. He quickly summoned the Divine Strategy Battalion Commander, Wang Yuanfeng. Then, he pointed at the bandit leader in the distance and said, "General Wang, do you see that middle-aged man commanding in the middle?"
Wang Yuanfeng's vision was startling. Naturally, he saw the man with one glance. "I see him. Is that the bandit leader?"
"That's right. How is it? Are you confident of killing him? "
Wang Yuanfeng thought for a while before saying cautiously, "The other party is about 1,300 meters away from the city walls. He is within the range of the ballistae. We can give it a try."
Ouyang Shuo nodded. "General Wang, let's give it a try. Remember, it's best if both ballistae fire at the same time. You only have one such opportunity. "
"Understood."
Wang Yuanfeng turned and left. Then, he called out to the ballistae to calibrate and aim the two ballistae. If one wanted to kill the enemy leader, one had to fire the strongest arrow of the Three Bow Eight Bull Ballistae, the "One Spear, Three Sword Arrows," which had a range of 1,500 meters. As for suppressing the catapults earlier, one fired Jackdaw Arrows, which could fire dozens of arrows at once, suppressing the other party from getting close to the catapults.
After taking aim, the two Three Bow Eight Bull Ballistae fired at the same time under Wang Yuanfeng's command. The huge spear, three sword arrows that looked like javelins drew beautiful arcs in the air, heading for the bandit leader, Huo Yang.
Ouyang Shuo stood on the city wall, nervously watching the trajectory of the spear, three sword arrows. Indeed, Wang Yuanfeng did not let him down. Two sharp arrows streaked across the sky, one in front and one behind, accurately targeting Huo Yang's position.
At this moment, Huo Yang was trying to boost morale. The bandit leader could not retaliate against the arrows falling from the sky. The arrows were like javelins, piercing through Huo Yang and killing him on the spot.
With Huo Yang's death, the bandits' morale, which had just recovered, immediately plummeted. This was especially so because Huo Yang's death was too shocking. They could not imagine that the enemy could shoot such a deadly arrow from a thousand and three hundred meters away.
Ouyang Shuo, of course, would not miss this opportunity. He yelled, "Messenger!"
"Here!"
"Order the cavalry to leave the city immediately, break through the enemy's line of defense, and completely crush them."
"Yes, sir!" The messenger didn't dare delay and immediately ran down the city wall.
Below the city wall, six hundred cavalrymen were already waiting in formation. After receiving the order, Lin Yi's face was full of excitement. He turned to the cavalrymen behind him, "Brothers, it's our turn."
"Kill!" The six hundred cavalrymen roared excitedly.
These excellent warriors had been waiting for almost an entire day. Even the militia had been sent to the battlefield by the lord, but they had been waiting all this time. Now, it was finally time for them to show off their skills. How could they not be excited?
As the city gate slowly opened, the six hundred cavalrymen shot out of the city gate like a sharp arrow, piercing the belly of the bandit army. Behind them, the city gate that had just been opened was quickly closed again.
The news of Huo Yang's death had slowly spread among the bandits. At this time, the bandits' morale was low, and they were lacking a backbone. The attack of the Shanhai Town's cavalry was like the last straw that broke the roving bandits' back, completely crushing their will to resist.
Lin Yi was already very familiar with this kind of charge.
Especially during the Zhuolu battle, Lin Yi had seen Zhang Liao's superb cavalry commanding art from beginning to end, and he had learned a lot. Lin Yi was also a considerate person, and when the battle stopped, he humbly asked Zhang Liao for guidance. Zhang Liao was not a selfish person, and he had a good impression of Lin Yi, so he didn't hesitate to teach him everything he knew.
Under Lin Yi's command, the six hundred cavalrymen rampaged through the bandits as if there was no one there. The attacking bandits were prepared to attack the city, and their formation was also an offensive formation. They were completely unprepared against the cavalry's charge, and with their low morale, how could they stop the cavalry's charge?
Lin Yi was smart, and he led the cavalry to destroy the bandits' ladders, catapults, and moving arrow towers, buying time for his comrades defending the city. The siege weapons were destroyed, and the attacking bandits were forced to retreat.
After charging for a while, Lin Yi didn't dare stay on the battlefield for too long, and he quickly led the cavalry back to the city. At this time, the bandits were like frightened birds, and they had no power to stop the cavalry's retreat. (To be continued.)
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