To Gui Xingfu, there were only two tasks.
First, to declare war on Tianshui City. Second, to take down Messy Rock Island.
Next, Waterfront City was completely useless. The task of completely annihilating Tianshui City was handed over to Si Wei and Turin Tuo's army.
Because Søren was dead, the king finally acquiesced to Waterfront City's declaration of war against Tianshui City. Thus, the first step was completed smoothly.
The second step was to take down Messy Rock Island.
In Gui Xingfu's opinion, it was also a simple matter.
Even though Tianshui City's navy was holed up and did not fight, and had turned from the navy to the army, hiding in Messy Rock Castle.
But how big could Messy Rock Island be? Even after two years of construction, it was not even half the size of Nanlin Castle.
The castle's back was against a steep cliff. In front and on the left and right was a large piece of flat land that could fit forty thousand soldiers.
The forty thousand soldiers spread out on the ground in front of the castle, forming a black mass that surrounded the entire castle in a fan shape. It looked as if the small castle was going to be completely submerged.
Hundreds of giant ballistae were moved down from the warships and placed neatly on the battlefield.
According to Gui Xingfu's prediction, it would take at most one day to completely capture this small castle.
"Begin!"
With the order, the sky shaking war drums sounded.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh …"
At the front of the castle, hundreds of giant ballistae fired at the same time. Three meter long giant arrows shot out like rain.
These terrifying giant ballistae had a range of more than three hundred meters.
After two rounds of testing, they continuously adjusted the giant ballistae's position.
On the left and right sides of the castle, Gui Xingfu's twenty thousand soldiers surged towards the castle like a tide. Because the walls on both sides were short, they did not even need siege ladders, they could just use ropes to climb up.
Gui Xingfu actually wanted to attack this small Messy Rock Castle from three sides with lightning speed.
… …
On top of the Messy Rock Castle, Yan Chao 'er was the chief commander. Duke Ting's guard commander, Suo Feiyang and Suo Mu were in charge of the battle on three sides of the castle.
Gui Xingfu's strategy of attacking from three sides looked extremely shocking.
On the left and right sides of the castle, countless enemies swarmed up like ants. The power of hundreds of giant ballistae shooting at the same time suppressed everyone on the castle wall.
Queen Yan Chao 'er ordered.
"Ready the scorpion machine on the left and right. Ready the gunpowder bags!"
Hundreds of scorpion catapults suddenly opened up, and several dozen kilograms of gunpowder were placed on the catapults.
This type of Scorpion Catapult was relatively small. It was a medium to small catapult, and its usual range was only about a hundred meters.
"Archers on both sides, get ready!"
Immediately, the 6,000 soldiers on both sides drew their bows and nocked their arrows!
"Straight ahead, heavy catapults, get ready. Giant oil barrels, get ready!"
On the dozens of super-heavy catapults in front of the castle, four to five soldiers risked their lives to place a huge barrel of kerosene on the throwing tray. This huge barrel of kerosene was filled with more than five hundred kilograms of kerosene.
Yan Chao 'er looked at the enemies on his left and right. They were getting closer and closer. Very soon, they were within 200 meters of each other.
"All archers, fire!"
She gave the order.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh …" The thousands of guards in the castle released their bowstrings at the same time.
Thousands of arrows shot out like torrential rain.
"Puff puff puff …"
Countless arrows rained down, and Gui Xingfu's army on both sides of the castle were hit and fell to the ground.
With such a dense army, the arrows had a hit rate of about half. In the first round of firing, Gui Xingfu's army suffered more than 200 casualties.
However, Gui Xingfu's expression didn't change at all.
They were only 200 meters away from the castle, and the defenders could fire a few times at most four times. Adding up to 600 to 700 casualties at most.
For an army of 40,000, this was not a big loss.
When the attackers got close to the castle walls, it would be another kind of massacre.
The attackers on both sides continued to charge forward like a tide, and they were already within 150 meters of the castle walls.
"Scorpion catapults, fire!"
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh …"
Following Yan Chao 'er's order, hundreds of scorpion catapults threw out hundreds of ignited gunpowder packs.
"Bang bang bang bang …"
Hundreds of gunpowder packs fell to the ground like raindrops falling into a pond, without a sound.
The attacking Gui Xingfu's army was still stunned. These things were just wrapped in cloth, and they couldn't be smashed to death.
But then …
"Boom, boom, boom, boom …"
Hundreds of gunpowder packs exploded violently, each weighing dozens of kilograms. Within a radius of a few meters, everyone was smashed into pieces, and corpses flew everywhere.
The entire ground shook, and countless sparks flew.
Countless corpses flew into the air.
Gui Xingfu's army was completely stunned!
What, what is this? It was like a bolt of lightning.
The entire ground shook, and their ears were ringing as if they were deaf.
The gunpowder looked terrifying, but it wasn't that lethal.
Hundreds of gunpowder packs exploded, and it only caused about a thousand casualties.
However, the attackers on both sides were scared out of their wits, and they instinctively stopped.
Gui Xingfu was also shocked by the explosion, but when he saw that the attackers on both sides had stopped, he roared, "Continue the attack, continue the attack!"
Then, both sides charged forward with all their might.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh …"
Next, the defenders of the castle were free to shoot, and they kept on shooting.
The distance of two hundred meters became hell, and when Gui Xingfu's army of twenty thousand reached the bottom of the castle, there were more than two thousand casualties.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh …"
Countless soldiers rushed to the bottom of the castle walls, and they started to throw ropes to climb the walls.
However, they were horrified to find that the entire wall was smeared with some unknown substance, and it was completely slippery. There was no way to climb, and there was no way to leverage on it.
If they lit a fire, the slippery substance would not burn.
Thus, the ten thousand soldiers were trapped under the castle, unable to climb up.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh …" At this moment, the defenders on the castle walls were desperately shooting arrows and throwing small gunpowder packs down.
"Boom, boom, boom …"
The densely packed attackers were like wheat stacks, and they all fell to the ground.
The casualties increased rapidly.
Gui Xingfu's scalp went numb, and he really didn't know what this exploding thing was.
"Retreat, retreat, retreat …"
Following Gui Xingfu's order, the rear barracks rang the retreat bell.
The ten thousand soldiers who had rushed to the bottom of the castle walls with great difficulty began to run back with all their might.
Then, they were once again hit by a torrential rain of arrows, and a round of Scorpion Catapults.
Hundreds of gunpowder packs exploded violently once again.
After completely retreating to the army formation, and counting the number of people in each barracks, Gui Xingfu discovered that there were only fifteen thousand left out of the twenty thousand soldiers who attacked the castle in the first round. There were more than five thousand casualties.
The open space on both sides of the castle was filled with potholes and corpses.
Gui Xingfu couldn't help but feel his scalp go numb. He originally thought that this small castle would be easy to attack, but he didn't expect to lose five thousand men in the first round of attack.
Especially the Suo clan's Sky Piercing Thunder (gunpowder) secret weapon, which caused a huge number of casualties.
More than seventy percent of the five thousand casualties were caused by the terrifying Sky Piercing Thunder.
The entire outer wall of the castle was smeared with that slippery substance. Without siege ladders, it was impossible to scale the wall with a rope hook.
A pincer attack from three sides was also no longer possible. They had to concentrate on attacking the front and break through the castle gates.
… …
Two hours later, Gui Xingfu's army changed their formation and arranged all the troops at the front of the castle.
Yan Chao 'er also immediately mobilized most of the troops to the front of the castle.
"Giant crossbow suppression …"
Gui Xingfu gave the order!
Hundreds of giant crossbows were reloaded with arrows. Each giant crossbow shot more than ten arrows at the same time.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh …"
Round after round of mounted archery followed.
Every round, thousands of crossbow arrows rained down on the top of the wall.
"Pa pa pa …"
The giant crossbow arrows rained down like a torrent, immediately suppressing the front of the castle.
"Break the gate …"
Thousands of soldiers frantically charged forward, covering the battering ram in the middle as they desperately rushed towards the castle gates.
On top of the castle walls.
"Super heavy catapults, launch!" Yan Chao 'er gave the order.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh …"
With a series of trembling muffled sounds, more than ten super heavy catapults hurled more than five hundred kilograms of kerosene barrels three to four hundred meters away.
"Hiss hiss hiss …" Each kerosene barrel ignited the fuse.
"Bang bang bang bang …"
More than ten giant kerosene barrels fiercely smashed onto the ground more than three hundred meters away, smashing into the siege crossbow formation of Gui Xingfu's army.
The hit rate was pathetic, only three giant crossbows were hit.
But … when these kerosene barrels smashed onto the ground, the kerosene inside splashed out and touched the fuse.
"Boom …"
Instantly, all the kerosene burned fiercely.
Of the hundreds of giant crossbows, dozens were instantly destroyed. In order to extinguish the fire, the suppression of the giant crossbows had to be stopped.
At this time, the medium-sized scorpion catapults on top of the castle walls began to change direction, moved to the top of the castle walls, and began to launch the terrifying gunpowder.
Thousands of soldiers hid behind the three layers of battlements, nocked arrows, and began to launch round after round of catapults.
After nearly half of the casualties, they finally rushed to the bottom of the castle gates.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh …"
Countless gunpowder, boulders, and kerosene barrels were hurled down.
As for the super heavy catapults, they had already tensed up and were ready for the second volley.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh …"
After a heart-shaking roar, more than ten giant gunpowder heads were hurled hundreds of meters away, smashing fiercely onto the giant crossbow formation of Gui Xingfu's army.
Countless kerosene once again burned fiercely, and dozens of giant crossbows were destroyed!
"Charge, charge, charge …"
Gui Xingfu gritted his teeth and sent wave after wave of soldiers to charge.
Then, countless soldiers fell one after another, dying in this short distance of three hundred meters.
… …
Night fell!
The fierce battle on the rocky island had been going on for a full twelve hours.
This small castle made of rubble still stood tall and firm.
The whole battlefield was filled with mountains of corpses.
"Father, today we lost nine thousand people, three thousand dead, two thousand seriously injured, and four thousand lightly injured." Gui Qinzhong said: "More than half of the giant crossbows from the warships were destroyed."
Gui Xingfu painfully closed his eyes, forty thousand soldiers, lost more than twenty percent, if it was a field battle, most likely the whole army would have collapsed.
"How many people were killed by the enemy's thunder?" Gui Xingfu asked.
Gui Qinzhong replied: "More than seventy percent!"
Gui Xingfu's heart suddenly twitched, if not for the terrifying thunder and kerosene bombs, most likely they would have broken through the rocky castle today.
He knew in his heart, whether it was the thunder (gunpowder) or kerosene bombs, they were things that could change the situation of the war, it was a revolution in the military.
Fortunately Søren was dead, otherwise with these two super sharp weapons, he might really be able to turn the situation around, at that time, the Gui family would die without a burial place.
But Gui Xingfu was very surprised, Søren was already dead, why were the defenders of the rocky island still fighting with all their might?
Could it be that they wanted to perish together with his Gui Xingfu army? No, the rocky island was important to the Suo family, but if it was lost, then so be it. How could money be more important than life?
So many kerosene bombs, so many thunder, wouldn't it be better to use them to defend Tianshui City?
What's the use of perishing together with my Gui Xingfu Waterfront army, I only want to mess up the rocky island, the real ones that want to destroy you are Turin Tuo and Si Wei's four hundred thousand soldiers.
"How is the morale of the army?" Gui Xingfu asked.
"Complaints are everywhere." Gui Qinzhong said: "Especially Luanyang City army, they keep threatening to retreat from the battlefield, but the Rock Demon's Rock Bandits are still filled with killing intent."
This time, Gui Xingfu brought forty thousand soldiers, only a few thousand truly belonged to Waterfront City, the rest were from Luanyang City, various counties, Yingzhou Island's Hai family and Rock Bandits.
If the battle went well, it was fine, but if it didn't, it would become a pot of porridge.
"On the sea, are there any traces of Tianshui City's warships?" Gui Xingfu asked.
"No." Gui Qinzhong said: "Our scouting ships have been sent out for hundreds of li, but there are no traces of Tianshui City's warships."
Then, Gui Qinzhong said: "Father, if … I mean, if we can't take down the rocky island, what should we do?"
Gui Xingfu said: "Nothing, when the deadline comes, Zhi Li will still convict Søren of treason, then the four hundred thousand soldiers will still attack Tianshui City, the Suo Clan will still be destroyed. But … our Waterfront City's Gui clan may not be able to get many benefits after the war. "
Gui Qinzhong said: "After the war, can we save my sister?"
"Ridiculous, stupid …" Gui Xingfu said sternly: "Just treat it as if Gui Qinshao is already dead, if it wasn't for her stupidity, how could our Waterfront City's Gui clan fall into this situation? Why do you have to risk your life for Chi Li? "
Then, Gui Xingfu ordered: "Get ready, we will fight tomorrow!"
"Yes!" Gui Qinzhong said.
Gui Xingfu continued: "Send people to Chu Yun County, Luanyang City and other places, use large cargo ships to transport catapults, giant ballistae and siege ladders, be prepared for a protracted war."
"Yes." Gui Qinzhong said.
… …
The next day!
The earth-shattering war drums sounded again.
Gui Xingfu once again mobilized the army and launched a frenzied attack on the rocky island castle!
Once again, the fierce battle lasted from morning to dusk.
But they still couldn't break through the castle's gate, instead, they made a dozen siege ladders and had dozens of warriors climb up the castle.
But in the end, all the strong warriors that climbed up the castle were killed, and the dozen siege ladders were all burned down.
On the second day of the war, Gui Xingfu's army suffered another 6000 casualties, leaving behind only 25,000 people from the 40,000 strong army.
The morale was completely low, there were even signs of mutiny.
If not for the soldiers knowing that the Suo Clan's death was certain, and that behind them stood the future King Zhi Li, this mixed army would have completely mutinied with such a large number of casualties.
Even though the Suo Clan's army was exhausted, the scorpion catapults and giant catapults were almost half destroyed.
Kerosene bombs, gunpowder bags and even arrows were mostly used up.
But Gui Xingfu knew that the fierce battle was over, he couldn't launch a third attack.
"Pass down the order, tomorrow stop the attack and change to encirclement tactics, forcing the defenders in the castle to run out of ammunition, food and water." Gui Xingfu ordered.
"Yes." Gui Qinzhong said, "When will we launch the attack again?"
Gui Xingfu said, "Wait for the reinforcements to arrive, and the siege materials to arrive."
"Yes!" Gui Qinzhong said.
Then, Gui Xingfu sighed heavily.
This battle was so ugly, the 40,000 strong army attacked a small castle with 10,000 defenders, fought for two days, lost more than 10,000 people, and still couldn't take it down.
What Gui Xingfu faced was not only a loss of face, but also a loss of profits.
After the Suo Clan was destroyed, the Gui Clan certainly wouldn't get a share of the profits from the Rubble Salt Field.
Even the 300 miles of territory that Tianshui City ceded to the Gui Clan would be discounted, and they wouldn't get anything.
Gui Xingfu felt an immense pressure when the battle turned out to be so disastrous.
Originally, he thought that it would be easy for the 40,000 strong navy to fight the 10,000 strong navy, and this time it was like killing a tiger.
He didn't expect that the Suo Clan would completely give up on the sea and switch to land warfare. A mere Rubble Island Castle broke several of Gui Xingfu's front teeth.
"Damn the Suo Clan, before dying, you still want to bite me." Gui Xingfu angrily said, "One day, I will definitely kill every single one of your Suo Clan, to vent my anger."
At this time, Gui Qinzhong who had already left, flew in.
"Father, big brother sent a messenger hawk from Linhai City!" Gui Qinzhong held a secret letter in his hand.
This messenger hawk should have arrived a day and a half ago, but the route of the Rubble Island Castle was very unfamiliar, the group of hawks only trained a few times, so 90% of the hawks were lost. The remaining two circled around several islands, and finally, one of them flew to the destination and was intercepted by the Linhai City's hawk trainer!
When he got the secret letter, he found that it was marked with the highest level, extremely urgent!
Gui Xingfu was startled. The main city of Linhai should be able to sit back and relax, so why would Gui Qinbi send such an urgent secret letter on a sparrow hawk?
When he opened it, he saw that Gui Qinzhong's secret letter wrote:
"Father, Søren is not dead, two days ago he led the army north to attack Linhai City.
Nanlin Castle has fallen, Guiqinqu River has been captured, and my Gui Clan's 10,000 strong army has been annihilated.
Now, Søren's army has surrounded Linhai City, and is on the verge of death, please send reinforcements!
In addition, according to my guess, Gui Qinshao has probably been rescued by Søren.
Our Gui Clan is in imminent danger. It's urgent, urgent! "
After reading this letter, Gui Xingfu suddenly felt his scalp go numb, and his vision went dark.
Then, he felt a sharp pain in his chest.
"Søren, bully me too much, bully me too much!" Gui Xingfu roared, and suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood!
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