Fenghou

The red flag was waved down, five hundred bed crossbows were fired at the same time, dense jackdaw arrows shot out in the air, and [-] jackdaw arrows pounced on the Jurchen infantry marching in line like locusts.

'Woo—'

The sharp horns of the infantry blew, and the soldiers of the third and fourth phalanxes in the five phalanxes raised their shields one after another, squatting halfway, resisting the jackdaw arrows whistling in the air.

The Iron Arrow of the Jackdaw is worthy of being the best of all arrows. Even a solid double-layer cowhide shield can't resist its powerful penetrating power. The shield was shot through, and the arrow of the Jackdaw immediately shot into the soldier's head and body, causing screams and wailing sounds. Through the wilderness.

More than [-] people were shot to death and wounded by the jackdaw arrows. The blood pooled into a river and soaked in the soil that had already turned bright red. This is the result of previous wars. The soil in front of Ganquan Castle has almost turned reddish brown.

The infantry speeded up and began to run, and then the second gurney crossbow was fired, and the Jurchen infantry again suffered more than [-] casualties.

Nearly 150 infantry rushed to the [-]th pace, used shields as cover, and began to shoot arrows at the top of the city. A cloud of arrows flew up to the top of the city. Defending city bow soldiers.

During the trial battle, Wanyan Wushu discovered that the arrows of [-] soldiers were within a hundred steps outside the city, so he roughly determined the positions of the [-] archers, so the [-] infantry should be able to hit the opponent, but they would not Injured by the opponent's soldiers and arrows.

Wanyan Wushu's strategy was indeed successful, and the [-] archers in the city had to retreat quickly, unable to maintain the formation of [-] archers.

At this time, a cavalry came galloping up, raised his command arrow and shouted: "There is an order from the governor, [-] archers return to the camp to rest, and change guards to guard the city in four hours!"

Teams of soldiers began to retreat and ran towards the barracks. They rushed back to rest, and returned to fight after recovering their strength.

At the same time, the 150 god-armed crossbowmen on the top of the city began to show their power, half-lying on the ground, winding their strings, and then firing outwards, the target was of course the Jurchen crossbowmen [-] meters away.

Arrows from both sides came and died, and the casualties continued to increase. At this time, the fierce drums of war sounded.

Ten thousand puppet Qi troops rushed towards Ganquan Castle with two hundred siege ladders shouting. Wanyan Wushu gave a heavy reward. Qianguan.

The heavy reward greatly inspired the puppet Qi army. Their morale was high, and they ran desperately. They quickly rushed past the burning catapult and the Jurchen crossbow array. Countless soldiers in the city fell down while running, the denser the team, the greater the casualties.

However, the casualties of thousands of people could not change the progress of the attack. A wide siege ladder was hung on the top of the city, and soldiers began to swarm up, desperately climbing up.

Wanyan Wushu issued an order, "The Jurchen crossbow formation stopped firing and turned to attack!"

With the battle flag waving and drums beating loudly, Han Chang shouted: "Put down the crossbow and attack!"

Eight thousand Jurchen infantry put down their crossbows and arrows, held shields and spears, and joined the attacking team...

This time in the official attack, both sides took out powerful weapons, and the siege ladder of Jin Bing was widened, allowing two people to climb side by side at the same time, which was convenient for covering each other.

This is indeed a great improvement. Two people fighting is much better than one alone. This is not that one plus one equals two, but that one plus one is greater than two.

But the height of the devil is one foot, and the height of the road is one foot. The Song army not only has a huge stone, but now there is a kind of "Mengpo soup".

Mengpo soup is a nickname of soldiers of the Song army, which is actually fire clay. The soldiers of the Song army are like feeding fish in a fish pond, pouring a scoop of burning fire clay with a big copper spoon. , Burning fire oil fell on the body, it was much more terrifying than boiling oil.

The enemy soldiers resisted with their shields, but they were still burned and screamed, stomped and slapped, and the severely burned rolled down the siege ladder.

One after another, fire and thunder exploded under the city, poisonous nails splashed everywhere, the golden soldiers were hard to defend against, and there was a grinning grin of death in almost every corner.

But there are still enemy troops climbing up and fighting fiercely with the Song army beside the crenel. Everyone is eager to be the first to climb to the top of the wall. One person is assassinated, and another person emerges. The two sides fight fiercely and stick together.

This time, the horse-faced city wall was not spared, and a siege ladder was also erected. Soldiers of the Puppet Qi Army began to climb up, and they were also hit head-on by the Song Army.

At this moment, there was a commotion in the middle of the city wall, and there was a lot of fire on the top of the city. Many Song soldiers were ignited by the fire, and the Song soldiers were screaming. In the chaos, Jurchen soldiers began to rush to the top of the city.

Although Chen Qing didn't know what happened, the most urgent task at this moment was support.

He turned his head and shouted to Niu Gao who was waiting on the head of Xicheng: "General Niu will bring five hundred troops to support!"

"Follow the order!"

Niu Gao agreed loudly, and waved his hand, "Follow me!"

He rushed over with five hundred soldiers.

At this time, Yang Yuanqing stumbled over, his eyebrows and temples were scorched, and shouted to Chen Qing: "Du Tong, the enemy is attacking the city with fire oil!"

This situation really surprised Chen Qing.

Chapter 394 Weaknesses

Wanyan Wushu looked at the fire in the middle of the city triumphantly. Although the Song army burned down his trebuchet, shattering his hope of using the trebuchet to attack the city, he still saved his hand. He picked [-] tall men For the strong Bohai Jurchen soldiers, let each of them carry a bag of kerosene.

This kind of bag is the sheepskin bag they used to hold milk wine. It can hold [-] catties of kerosene at a time. When using it, squeeze the leather bag directly to spray the kerosene out. The shot can reach three feet away. Standing in the middle of the siege ladder, Then you can spray fire oil to the city.

At the critical moment, three hundred soldiers successfully sprayed fire oil, catching Song Jun by surprise.

This is also the advantage of the two-person siege ladder. When one person is spraying fire oil, the person next to him can climb up without being affected.

Wanyan Wushu immediately commanded Wanyan Helisa next to him: "General Helisa can lead ten thousand Jurchen soldiers to attack the city and capture Ganquan Fort!"

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Although Wanyan Heli Saling had some grievances towards Wanyan Wushu, he hated Chen Qing who had robbed his wife and concubine. He must peel Chen Qing's skin with his own hands.

"Drumming!"

'Boom!Boom!Boom! '

Amidst the earth-shattering sound of war drums, Wanyan Helisa led [-] Jurchen cavalry towards the city!

……

On the top of the city, Yang Zaixing and Niu Gao each led 500 men to fight fiercely with more than [-] Jurchen soldiers who rushed to the top of the city. Both sides suffered heavy casualties and many dead bodies.

There was raging fire everywhere on the top of the city. The soldiers tried their best to bury the flames with yellow sand and wet cotton quilts, but kerosene continued to spray up from below the city.

"Throw the fire oil barrel!" This is the voice of the chief general Chen Qing.

The situation was very critical, and the chief general Chen Qing also went out to fight in person. He led [-] of the most elite Song troops to kill along the edge of the city.

The soldiers pried off the lid of the kerosene barrel, poured down the barrels of kerosene, and threw down dozens of torches. Flames erupted in the city, and the Jurchen soldiers and the puppet Qi army were in chaos.

But in the chaos, more than 2000 strong Jurchen soldiers climbed to the top of the city under the command of Han Chang, and they continued to join the team to seize the city.

Now both sides are fighting for time, the Song army is desperately throwing fire oil down, let the fire spread to the whole city, and the Jin soldiers must seize the top of the city before the fire engulfs them, both sides have equal chances, it depends on who can grab the last Chance of victory.

Chen Qing was also aware of this serious problem, so he committed suicide himself. He is the coach, and his gaze is deeper than everyone else. He saw the key to the problem.

This is like blocking the Yangtze River from breaking its embankment. The opening of the embankment must be blocked, which is the enemy's access to the city.

There are too many soldiers on both sides of the city, and they are too dense to kill from the middle, so they have to walk from the side.

Chen Qing cut a very narrow passage from the side like a Pao Ding Jie Niu, wielding Fang Tian's painted halberd to kill more than a dozen Jurchen soldiers, and finally broke through a hole, he turned around and shouted, "Cover me!" !"

As soon as he jumped onto the battlements, dozens of soldiers under him immediately rushed forward, desperately blocking the enemy army on the top of the city with a large shield for him. Chen Qing ran several steps, brandishing Fang Tian's painted halberd, and two Jurchen commanders controlled At the entrance of the city, Jurchen soldiers rushed from between the two of them to the top of the city.

Fang Tian painted the halberd as fast as lightning, and a commander suddenly realized that something was wrong, but it was too late, and said, "Puff! ’ A human head flew out, its body tilted, and it fell down to the city.

The commander standing across from him found Chen Qing and recognized his weapon. He was trembling with excitement. Taking Chen Qing's head can make him a king!

At this time, he forgot all the dangers and missions, and his mind was only filled with piles of money, the crown on his head, and a hundred beautiful beauties. In his eyes, Chen Qing seemed to be a bald eagle A feathered pheasant can be caught by him and his head can be wrung off.

The commander-in-chief roared, stepped forward two steps forward and swung a mace at Chen Qing, but he blocked the passage to the city.

Chen Qing saw the excitement and madness in the commander's eyes, of course he understood what the other party was thinking, but unfortunately he would not sacrifice his adult beauty.

Fang Tian painted a halberd with a flash of thorns, and the mace was still in the air, but the tip of the halberd had pierced the commander's throat. The moment the commander died, money, crowns, beauties, all good things disappeared, and only Going down the endless dark abyss, he screamed silently, fell down the siege ladder, and his huge body knocked over five or six soldiers in a row.

Chen Qing waved Fang Tian's painted halberd, smashed several cold arrows aimed at him, and jumped off the city wall. His men swarmed up, blocked the enemy's upper city passage, and poured down more than a dozen barrels of kerosene. The siege ladder suddenly turned into a sea of ​​flames. Dozens of Jurchen soldiers on the ladder were covered in flames, jumping down the ladder crying and howling.

The morale of the Song army on the top of the city was greatly boosted, and the more they fought, the more courageous they became. The hundreds of Jurchen soldiers on the top of the city became less and less, and finally all died in battle on the top of the city.

Yang Zaixing stepped forward to salute with his fists clasped, and said with shame on his face: "The humble and incompetent position puts Dutong in danger!"

This section is exactly his defense zone. Originally the defense was very tight, but he didn't expect the opponent to use fire oil to open up the situation and make a passage. Simply unimaginable.

Chen Qing patted his arm, and said in a deep voice: "To sum up experience and learn lessons, each of us came here like this."

"Humble post remembers the teachings of the Metropolitan Government!"

Chen Qing nodded, and returned to the command tower with 400 soldiers. At this time, the fire on the top of the city was extinguished, but the city was turned into a sea of ​​fire. The Song army dropped more than 2 barrels of kerosene, enough to More than [-] catties, the Jurchen soldiers suffered heavy casualties and were forced to retreat hundreds of steps away.

The bell for withdrawing troops far away has already sounded, and the golden soldiers who fell short of success began to retreat to the camp. Everyone looked depressed. They really almost captured Ganquan Fort today.

The aftermath of the city was also being dealt with. The wounded soldiers were carried to the east wall for treatment and bandaging. The soldiers of the Song Army who died in battle were also put into cloth bags and carried down the city. Body bags were neatly placed on the open space below the city. The rows look stunning.

The food delivery cart rolled up and delivered the hot soup and big steamed buns to the soldiers.

Chen Qing sighed softly. At least 600 Song soldiers were killed in this battle. Although the number of enemy soldiers killed was much higher than that of the Song army, he and everyone in the city were not happy.

Today, more than a thousand enemy troops rushed to the top of the city. Ganquan Fort was already on the verge of being breached. It was only because the soldiers fought desperately and died with the enemy regardless of the cost that Ganquan Fort was saved from the edge of fall. Will they have such luck next time?

"Dutong! I think we should send out a surprise army to attack Yanzhou and take back all the fire oil!"

It was Zheng Ping who spoke, and his suggestion resonated with the generals around him. Indeed, if they didn't have kerosene today, they would have to flee for their lives with their wives and children.

"I'll talk about Qibing later, but I want to know how much fire oil was consumed today?" Chen Qing asked.

Yang Yuanqing quickly said: "We have brought [-] barrels of kerosene from the warehouse, and now there are [-] barrels left."

In other words, there were still 400 barrels in the warehouse, which sounded like a lot, but it was actually consumed very quickly. They burned more than [-] barrels within half an hour.

Chen Qing nodded and said: "Although I said before, try not to use kerosene unless it is in an emergency, but today I would like to add that when you need to use kerosene, you must use it without hesitation. For example, today, Everyone has to learn this lesson, including myself!"

I did learn a lesson today. If I hadn't ordered the use of kerosene, I'm afraid everyone would still be hesitating.

Chen Qing's lesson is that he must hand over the decision-making power before the battle to the generals, so that they dare to order and can't rely on himself.

……

At this time, Wanyan Wushu also painfully reflected in the big tent, why he failed in the end when he clearly had a chance to seize the city today.

"I'm still too conservative. I only let 300 people carry kerosene. If I let 3000 people carry kerosene, then the entire city can be set on fire, and tens of thousands of troops can attack the city."

Fan Gong sighed and said, "Chen Qing actually thought of this point. He destroyed our trebuchet first to prevent the city from being burned by fire. It's just that he didn't expect that Marshal Du would let people carry kerosene. I'm afraid the next time He was prepared."

"That's why I regret that I wasted an excellent opportunity and killed more than 1 people. In two fierce battles, [-] people were killed. I disappointed the soldiers so much."

After finishing speaking, Wanyan Wushu let out a long sigh.

At this time, Fan Gong said again: "I am afraid that the humble staff has found the weakness of Ganquan Castle."

"What weakness?" Wanyan Wushu asked anxiously.

Fan Gong raised a finger, "Just one word, water!"

Chapter 395 Broken Source

Wanyan Wushu frowned, "Oasis Castle was built because of water, how could it be short of water? As far as I know, there are four wells in the city, aren't there?"

Fan Gong smiled and said: "Although there are four wells in the city, the water source comes from outside the city. As long as we find the water source and cut it off, Ganquan Castle will soon collapse due to the lack of water, and we will win without a fight."

Although what Fan Gong said was very tempting, Wanyan Wushu didn't believe it so easily, his brows furrowed even deeper, "Where is the source of this water? Is it the river to the east?"

"That's not true. It should be an underground river. I deduce that it should be under the cliff. We can dig a few more wells under the cliff. I believe we can find this underground river?"

"It's that simple?"

Fan Gong smiled and said: "This matter itself is very simple. The key is to find the water source. If Marshal Du is not in a hurry to attack the city, you can give it a try. Anyway, you won't lose any troops!"

Wanyan Wushu was also waiting for the kerosene and siege vehicles to arrive, so he might as well use this time to find water sources. Thinking of this, he said to Fan Gong: "I will find water sources for your three thousand troops, but Try to stay as far away from the cliff as possible, the bed crossbows of the Song army are very sharp."

"Understandable!"

……

The fire outside the city had already been extinguished, and the Song army began to clean up the battlefield. Thousands of charred corpses were wrapped in mats and sent to non-combat areas. go.

In fact, there were not many valuable things after the fire. The armor was burned, and the wax shaft of the spear was also burnt, leaving only metal objects such as the blade and spear tip. Fortunately, a large number of arrows Away from the fire zone, they are all completely preserved.

Chen Qing also returned home temporarily to reunite with his wife. At four o'clock, he got up and returned to the barracks.

Just after returning to the big tent, Liu Cui, the general on duty at night, ran over and said, "Dutong, some soldiers discovered what the enemy army was digging under the cliff?"

Chen Qing was slightly taken aback, "Are you still digging now?"

Liu Cui nodded, Chen Qing immediately put on his clothes and said, "Go and see!"

The crowd soon came to Beichengtou. There were not many soldiers in Beichengtou, about 300 people, mainly on patrol.

Since the Xixia people climbed up from the cliff, the Song Army built three horse-faced walls on the cliff. Standing on the horse-faced wall, you can look out and see the situation below the cliff. It is impossible to sneak attack unless the soldiers of the Song Army relax their surveillance , but Song Jun has learned a lesson, and basically monitors the movement under the cliff all the time.

Chen Qing came to the horse-faced wall in the middle, and the leader of the patrol pointed to a fire point in the northeast direction: "That's the fire point, they built dozens of large tents, and more than a thousand people were digging for something day and night. ?”

Chen Qing watched the fire in the distance, and Yang Yuanqing also rushed over. He said very worriedly: "The soldiers reported to the humble officer in the afternoon, and the humble officer also saw it. They should be digging a well, and they must be trying to cut off our water source." !"

Chen Qing smiled and said: "It's not surprising, the biggest weakness of our Ganquan Fort is water, and the other party should have discovered it. Cutting off our water source will definitely be their choice."

"But what if the water supply is really cut off?"

Both Yang Yuanqing and Liu Cui showed anxious expressions, and Chen Qing smiled slightly, "Is our water source so easy to cut off? You don't have to worry!"

There are three underground rivers near Ganquan Fort, one of which passes through the bottom of Ganquan Fort and has indeed become the water source of Ganquan Fort's wells, but this underground river flows from northwest to southeast, and should be located under the hills, so how can it be broken.