Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 54 City Battle
On the wide street outside Zhou Yu's mansion, raindrops fell down, hitting the green bricks and making dense and crisp popping sounds.

The blue bricks were washed greener by the rain, and shallow puddles soon accumulated on the street, reflecting the gray sky and the blurry street scene.

The structure of Qiangonglei is very similar to that of Baihucheng. It also has two straight blue brick avenues connecting the four gates. On both sides of the avenues are houses arranged in an orderly manner, making the whole city present a clear field shape.

From the wide streets and densely packed houses, it can be seen that Qian Tong had great ambitions and tried to build Qiangonglei into the second Yuncheng.

Hundreds of defenders braved the heavy rain and lined up under the command of military marquises, team leaders and garrison commanders.

Zhou Yu led more than a dozen of his men out of the mansion and ordered them to drag the cleanly dressed deserter to the center of the street. He shouted, "This man deserted the battlefield and lied about military intelligence. Execute him immediately!"

A personal guard walked out from beside him, drew his sword with a clang, strode to the center of the street, and under the gaze of hundreds of people, cut off the head of the fleeing soldier.

The entire place fell silent. A chill flashed across Zhou Yu's handsome face. He drew his sword from its scabbard, raised it, and shouted, "The fortress is in danger. Everyone, you must charge forward bravely. Anyone who cuts off the enemy's head will be rewarded with 3,000 yuan and 500 stone of grain. Let's go!"

With his loud shout, the low morale was boosted a little. Seven hundred soldiers quickly lined up, with spearmen in front, sword and shield soldiers in the middle, and archers in the back under the protection of two groups of miscellaneous soldiers, and ran towards the south gate.

At this time, Yan Yi had already climbed up to the South City Gate Tower. Since the gate tower was the commanding height of the entire city and was very spacious, it naturally became the command post of the entire army and a place to treat the wounded.

Dozens of wounded soldiers were lying on the mats inside the gatehouse, the blood oozing from their wounds dyed the mats bright red, and wailing and groaning sounds were heard from time to time.

More than ten military doctors are treating the injuries of these wounded soldiers. There are wound doctors who treat sword wounds, and fracture doctors who treat bone fractures. The division of labor is relatively clear, which effectively curbs the deterioration of the soldiers' injuries.

Fan Yan stood beside Yan Yi and reported the casualties of the siege in a low voice: "Fifty-one killed, over a hundred wounded, about forty of them seriously injured."

Yan Yi's face looked a little ugly. The number of casualties was beyond his expectations.

In just a short siege, one-sixth of Yan's 600 elite soldiers were killed. If the defenders were not small in number, they would have suffered serious losses.

Witnessing such a large-scale bloodbath for the first time, he felt a bit uncomfortable both mentally and physically, with a tightness in his chest and a slight shortness of breath. However, the excitement within him seemed to inject a special strength into him, allowing him to quickly adapt to the surrounding environment.

After Fan Yan finished discussing the casualties, he began to outline the next steps: "The two groups of soldiers attacking the city will take a short break and will not participate in the subsequent battle at Qian Gong Fort. If Yuncheng sends reinforcements, these two groups of soldiers will be assigned to guard the suspension bridge."

Yan Yi nodded, indicating that he agreed with this plan. Before setting off, he summoned all the generals to discuss three plans. The preferred plan was to lure Yuncheng to send reinforcements, intercept and ambush them on the south bank of the suspension bridge. If they could be annihilated, they would continue to attack Yuncheng. If they could not defeat the enemy, they would retreat to Qian Gong Lei and defend it, and notify Yan Yu to come for reinforcements.

However, there is a prerequisite for the implementation of this plan, that is, Qiangonglei must be completely occupied before the arrival of reinforcements from Yuncheng, otherwise the reinforcements can go around Qiangonglei from both sides to the east gate, west gate or north gate to enter the city.

As long as Qiangonglei could be occupied before the reinforcements from Yuncheng arrived, the only route available to the reinforcements would be the South Gate. First, the South Gate was the closest to Yuncheng, and second, if an attack was launched from the other three gates after the city was lost, it would be easy for the enemy to intercept their retreat and launch a sneak attack from behind.

Of course, the reinforcements could also retreat back to Yuncheng, but for the Qian Tong army, which lacked cavalry, leaving the city was easy, but returning was not so easy. The key now was to quickly capture Qian Gong Fort.

A thoughtful look flashed in Yan Yi's eyes as he walked out of the gate tower and onto the city wall.

The view here is very good, and you can see most of Qian Gong Lei.

Four hundred cavalrymen, ploughing through the rain, charged towards the north gate at lightning speed. The small groups of defenders along the way were like eggs against rocks, crushed to pieces in an instant. Some were killed by arrows, some were run over by their horses, and still others were killed by spears, the immense force of the impact sending their bodies flying backwards for several meters before falling to the ground.

Wherever the cavalry passed, the streets that were originally populated with people became empty, like a wasteland that had just been plowed.

Yan Yi was greatly shocked by this scene. It was hard to imagine how thrilling the scene would be when thousands of cavalrymen charged together.

Behind the charging cavalry were three hundred sword and shield soldiers composed of the sons of wealthy and powerful families. They did not rush forward along the streets, but instead formed teams of five and dispersed to both sides of the streets to clear out areas that the cavalry could hardly reach.

These wealthy and powerful children are all physically strong, skilled in martial arts, and good at thinking.

For them, fighting in formation on a vast battlefield is still not something they are used to. However, once they are in the narrow alleys, they will feel like fish in water and move freely, as if they have found the battlefield that suits them best.

Although the defenders were more familiar with the terrain of Qian Gong Lei, their physical strength and skills were significantly inferior to those of the wealthy and powerful. When fighting in a small space, these defenders were like hiding mice, being pulled out by cats and killed one by one.

Four hundred cavalrymen and three hundred sword and shield soldiers used such a wide-coverage combat method, taking advantage of the defenders' confusion and quickly strangling the defenders in various parts of the city.

There were only two defending troops that posed some threat to them.

The first garrison consisted of about 400 men, summoned by Li Sheng and Tao Yong, two assistant military commanders. When the city gate was about to be breached, they hurriedly rushed towards the south gate with these 400 hastily assembled men.

However, they had never expected that the city gate would be lost so quickly, nor did they have a good understanding of the enemy's situation, nor had they made any arrangements for the formation. They were only thinking about getting to the South Gate as quickly as possible. As a result, they ran into 400 cavalrymen head-on when they were halfway there.

On one side were four hundred unprepared infantrymen, and on the other side were four hundred cavalrymen who came with force. When they met on a wide street, the result was predictable.

The four hundred cavalrymen didn't hesitate at all. They leaned forward, raised their spears and halberds, and pierced through the four hundred infantrymen with just one encounter!
After rushing out more than a hundred meters, they turned their horses around, and the rear team quickly became the front team. The horses sped up rapidly, and after another round of charge, they completely defeated the defending army.

Poor Li Sheng and Tao Yong, they were also well-known figures in Qian Tong's army. They were pierced through the chest by two spears and fell to the ground. Before they were completely dead, their heads were chopped off by two cavalrymen who jumped off their horses and hung on the saddles.

(End of this chapter)