I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 214 The Battle of Langya
In the second year of Kaiyuan in Western Chu, winter.

Since parting with Lei Mengsha last autumn, Chu Zhao has led his army eastward and recaptured Langya City in the summer of this year.

The successive defeats on the battlefield of Western Chu, and even the loss of Langya, which could be used for both offense and defense, made Xiao Chongjing furious.

In the autumn of this year, he did not hesitate to give up his advantages in the wars between the Southern Chu and the Northern Chu, and took the initiative to cede territory in exchange for peace, and then he mobilized the entire country, claiming to have a million soldiers, to deal with the Western Chu.

Of course, it was just a claim. There were definitely not actually one million people. At the beginning, there were only about 30,000 to 40,000 people.

However, as time went on, armies from all over the country moved westward, and by this time hundreds of thousands of troops had gathered outside Langya City.

Moreover, most of them are elite.

Since the beginning of winter, Beili has been constantly attacking cities, using human lives to consume the weapons and ammunition of the Western Chu army, and the effect is quite significant.

On November 23rd, around 4 p.m., the Beili Zhenxi Army deployed a total of 300,000 troops in the eastern, southern, and northern suburbs of Langya City, and came with great momentum.

Upon seeing this, the generals defending the city in the east, south and north hurriedly reported the enemy intelligence to the city lord's mansion and reported it to the Western Chu Emperor Chu Zhao.

After hearing this, Chu Zhao couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.

After all, in general, sieges are conducted during the day, or more precisely, in the morning, because this way, the attackers have better options. If the situation is good at noon, they can continue the siege, and have a whole afternoon to expand their victory. On the contrary, if the situation is not good, they can withdraw their troops and have lunch at noon, so that the soldiers can have a good rest for an afternoon, recuperate, and continue the siege tomorrow.

This is the reasonable arrangement.

If they choose to attack the city in the afternoon, then even if the attackers have made good progress, once it gets dark, they will lose the chance to expand their victory. After all, they can't fight all night long, right?

Unless one is fully prepared, fighting at night will have very poor results due to the limitation of vision, far less than fighting during the day. Now it was already past noon, with only one or two hours left until dusk, yet the Beili army was coming aggressively to attack the city, which surprised Chu Zhao.

"Beili's Zhenxi Army seems to be desperate." Chu Zhao murmured, turned to look at Yue Yao and asked: "But why?"

That’s right, Yueyao came to Langya. Not only her, but also Chu Ying, Yin Luoxia and the children were also in Langya City.

It is worth mentioning that the couple gave birth to four children last year, one twin and one boy and one girl. Now Chu Zhao has five sons and one daughter.

"Have you forgotten that you asked General Li Yi to lead 30,000 troops to take a detour to the rear of the Zhenxi Army?"

Hearing this, Chu Zhao suddenly realized and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He could almost conclude that the Zhenxi Army was so eager to attack the city because they had heard about the Blood-Clothed Army in the rear that cut off their food supplies.

"Are you going to the city wall?" Yue Yao asked when she saw Chu Zhao's actions.

Chu Zhao hummed and said seriously: "This battle will be a fierce one. As the emperor of Western Chu, I must step forward to boost the morale of our soldiers. Also, I have to be on guard against Beili breaking the rules and sending masters from the Free and Easy Realm to fight."

After Yue Yao came to Langya, she helped Chu Zhao deal with government affairs and naturally knew a lot about the situation in the city.

Right now, the artillery and musket ammunition, which are the biggest advantage of Western Chu, have been basically used up. The weapons and ammunition sent from Yuelu City are still on the way, and it is unknown when they will arrive.

In other words, they can only fight with conventional cold weapons now.

With only 60,000 to 70,000 people, not even the elite Blood-Clothed Army, facing the most elite 300,000 Zhenxi Army of Beili, it could be said to be the most severe battle that Western Chu had ever faced since the war began.

Naturally, it is a fierce battle among fierce battles.

Yueyao nodded, stood up and said, "Then I'll go too."

Chu Zhao did not object. Yue Yao had personally been on the battlefield several times and was already a master in the realm of freedom. She had no problem protecting herself.

Moreover, because she was willing to personally take part in the battle as the queen, she and Yin Luoxia had a high prestige in the army, which could help encourage the soldiers.

The couple left the City Lord's Mansion and headed straight for the East City Tower. After all, judging from the distribution of troops of the Beili Town West Army outside the city, the East City was still the main battlefield for today's siege.

When the two men walked up to the east city tower, the Beili people in the eastern suburbs outside the city were arranging their troops, or more accurately, deciding the order of death of those Beili soldiers.

"His Majesty!"

"Queen!"

"Your Majesty and the Queen are here!"

When Chu Zhao and Yue Yao arrived at the city gate tower, Wushina, one of the deputy commanders of the Western Chu Army's expedition to the East, was explaining their respective tasks to the generals. These people were the generals who directly commanded the soldiers on the front line, so it was necessary for Wushina to reach a consensus on command ideas with them.

"Your Majesty, Her Majesty!" As the two appeared, the generals who noticed them immediately saluted.

Chu Zhao waved his hand: "You guys continue, I'm just taking a look."

"Your Majesty, I have already repeatedly stressed what should be said, and the generals have remembered it. I am just reminding you a few more times for the sake of caution."

Chu Zhao hummed and prepared to leave.

"Your Majesty, wait a moment." Wu Shi Na called him, hesitated for a moment, and whispered: "Your Majesty, how about you command this battle?"

"Why?"

“Why…” Wu Shina smiled bitterly and said, “This battle is of great importance. I am worried that if something goes wrong… I will be blamed.”

Chu Zhao was in command most of the time during the battle, and his various surprise attack tactics impressed the entire army. However, this does not mean that Wu Shina's command ability is poor. His battlefield acumen and ability to command large troops are actually much higher than those of Chu Zhao, a half-baked man.

Chu Zhao shook his head: "Ushina..."

"Your Majesty, my name is Zhao Fugui."

Even though Chu Zhao called him Wushina every time, he still did not give up correcting Chu Zhao's way of addressing him.

Seeing his aggrieved look, Chu Zhao quickly assured him, "Well, it's my fault. I will never call you Wushina again."

"Your Majesty, you said the same thing last time." Ushina felt more aggrieved.

This made everyone present laugh, and the depressing atmosphere before the war was swept away.

Chu Zhao couldn't help but smile, and finally said seriously: "Zhao Fugui, I let you command the war because I think you have the ability... If you are not confident, then believe me... Go, command well, and make me sure that I did not make the wrong decision."

"..." Zhao Fugui was deeply moved when he heard this, and then asked all the generals to return to their posts.

Shortly after they left.

"Dongdong-dong-dong-dong-dong-"

Outside the city, a deafening drumbeat was heard from the Beili Army in the eastern suburbs. Zhao Fugui immediately saluted Chu Zhao, then turned abruptly, strode towards the battlements, and raised his arms high.

"All troops—prepare to meet the enemy!"

Just as Chu Zhao predicted, the momentum of the Beili army's attack on Langya City today was more rapid than in previous times.

Amid the sound of drums and trumpets representing the attack, soldiers from the Beili army, armed with spears and swords, rushed towards Langya City like a tide.

On the top of the city wall, Zhao Fugui stared with his tiger eyes at the Beili Army that was pouring in like a tide outside the city, secretly calculating the distance between the enemy and the city wall.

"Order the longbowmen to lead the shooting."

Following his order, dozens of heralds ran in all directions, shouting as they ran: "Deputy commander has given the order, longbowmen lead the shooting... Deputy commander has given the order, longbowmen lead the shooting!"

"What does guided shooting mean?"

Some former Beili soldiers who joined the Western Chu Army's Eastern Expedition were confused and asked the old soldiers next to them.

"Guided Diffuse."

"What does diffuse mean?"

The so-called diffuse shooting is due to tactical needs. It is to let all archers not pursue the goal of shooting more arrows than killing enemies, but to shoot arrows all over the sky in a projectile manner.

This kind of group diffuse firing was rarely used by the Western Chu army, because after a battle, the arrows consumed were often in the hundreds of thousands, which was too costly for the Western Chu army, which had artillery. However, many soldiers did not understand the principle of diffuse firing, but only knew the term diffuse firing, so they could only pretend to know it and replied unhappily: "What is diffuse firing? You don't know it yourself. Anyway, we are all archers."

As they were talking, the Beili soldiers gradually approached the city wall and entered the shooting range of the archers of the Zhengdong Army.

"Fire arrows!"

"Fire arrows!"

"Fire arrows!"

The generals in charge of various sections of the city wall issued orders one after another.

The archers hiding behind the walls on the city wall released their bowstrings or pulled the triggers of their crossbows.

The rain of arrows from the sky seemed to block out the sun, making the sky and the earth dark.

Archers and crossbowmen, one far away and one close, working together from top to bottom, formed a very powerful firepower network.

For a moment, the casualties of the Beili army outside the city increased sharply, and it was unknown how many people were shot and died.

However, once someone fell, the nearby soldiers would quickly take his place and continue charging forward.

This crazy momentum of one army after another made the soldiers on the city wall secretly frightened.

After all, none of the previous wars had ever seen such a desperate fighting style.

What was more crucial was that there were too many people. It seemed as if all within sight were soldiers of the Beili Army. The crowd simply connected the sky and the earth, like a swarm of locusts passing through.

This massive human wave offensive made many people feel numb.

"boom--"

"Boom boom——"

The sound of artillery fire instantly reassured the frightened soldiers of the Eastern Expedition Army.

The dense firepower network formed by artillery fire, bows and arrows, and muskets took the lives of countless Beili soldiers, but facing the 300,000 troops that were pouring towards the city walls like a tide, this firepower was still not enough.

Outside the city, at the foot of the city wall, the Beili soldiers who rushed here in the rain of arrows and artillery shells began to place gunpowder bags or set up ladders on the city wall.

"Damn it! The people in Leijiabao deserve to die!"

Many generals guarding the city were shouting and cursing because the people from Leijiabao had given Beili the gunpowder bags. Although their power was not very great, if there were too many of them, they could still blow up the city walls.

Once the city wall is blown up, the geographical advantage will be gone.

Explosive charges continued to explode below the city walls, and people as densely packed as an ant colony were scrambling to climb the city walls, using ladders and carrying human bodies.

If you look at Langya City from outside the city at this time, you can see that the entire city wall is crowded with people, as if there are soldiers of the Beili Army on every inch of the city wall.

Very spectacular!

However, for the soldiers of the Western Chu Expeditionary Army on the city wall, this was a huge pressure.

Especially the archers and musketeers, they mechanically repeated the actions of loading arrows and ammunition, and aiming and shooting, but they could not stop the Beili soldiers under the city from climbing to the top of the city.

"Crossbowmen, move back, move back... Damn it, I told you to move back!"

Seeing that a crossbowman was still standing there, trying to load a crossbow and shoot a Beili soldier who had already climbed up the city wall, a captain rushed over and pulled him back, while swinging the long sword in his hand and chopping off the head of the Beili soldier who had rushed over.

"Brothers, it's our turn, go!"

"kill!"

"Kill them!"

The soldiers who had been hiding behind the archers and musketeers drew their swords and rushed towards the Beili soldiers who had climbed up to the top of the city wall.

The sounds of fighting and gunfire were endless, pouring into Chu Zhao's ears one after another.

Frankly speaking, he was a little worried, but now he was on the battlefield, so no matter how worried he was, Chu Zhao did not show any worry on his face. After all, as the commander-in-chief and the emperor of Western Chu, his every word and action would have an immeasurable impact on these soldiers.

Therefore, even if the Beili soldiers attacked the top of the city, Chu Zhao still had an attitude of being confident of victory.

Zhao Fugui next to him was a little worried. Of course, he was not worried about losing the battle, nor was he worried about Chu Zhao's safety, but he was worried about Queen Yue Yao who was fighting with the Beili soldiers with a sword.

"Your Majesty, this battle is dangerous. How about letting the Queen withdraw?"

Chu Zhao waved his hands, and said in a calm and solemn voice: "Listen, soldiers of Western Chu, I am here, my family is here too, and the queen even went to the battlefield in person to share the hardships with you, kill them all!"

Not to mention the current situation of the soldiers on the north and south ends of the city walls in the distance, anyway, in the east of the city, after hearing Chu Zhao's words, he clearly felt that the eyes and momentum of the soldiers had become different. Their faces were flushed and their expressions were excited.

Human beings are such strange creatures. Even if it is the same sentence, the effect when spoken by an ordinary soldier and by Chu Zhao, the Emperor of Western Chu, is as different as heaven and earth.

Sometimes, a word of encouragement from a superior can make many people risk their lives regardless of the consequences.

For example: Zhao Fugui now.

If he had not been carrying the heavy responsibility of commanding the overall situation at this moment, he would have wanted to lead an army to break through the siege, bring the head of King Langya, who led the Beili army, and present it to His Majesty.

It's no wonder that he had this idea of ​​beheading. After all, the battle situation between the two armies was indeed somewhat unfavorable at the moment. Since the number of Beili soldiers was too large, their soldiers of the Eastern Expedition Army could gradually no longer be suppressed.

This directly led to the front line being pushed back, making the entire city wall the main battlefield for the fighting between the two armies.

This is a very unfavorable situation for the defenders.

Because once the city walls are attacked, due to the narrow terrain on the walls, they can only replace soldiers for close combat, which makes it impossible for them to rely on long-range strike forces to cause casualties to the enemy troops below the city.

This means that the enemy troops below will continue to attack the city and will be endlessly killed. In addition, the gunpowder bags below will continue to bombard the city walls, so the city walls as a means of defense will be completely useless.

What’s more terrible is that once the city wall is lost, it means that half of the city has fallen.

Throughout history, it is rare that after the city walls were lost, the enemy was still repelled by street fighting within the city.

Anyway, Zhao Fugui had never heard of it.

Generally speaking, once a city wall is captured, it means that the fall of the city is only a matter of time. By then, the morale of the attacking party will soar and they will fight more and more courageously, while the morale of the defending party will plummet and they will lose all desire to fight.

Right now, the situation in Langya City is heading towards being lost. Once 300,000 troops enter the city, can their Western Chu Expedition Eastern Army stop them?
The more Zhao Fugui thought about it, the more anxious he became, and the more uncertain he felt. He couldn't help but look back at Chu Zhao, only to find that Chu Zhao had taken out a pot of wine and a wine glass from somewhere, and was drinking slowly by himself.

Zhao Fugui was stunned by this scene, and the soldiers near the tower were also stunned. They thought, "Isn't your Majesty too calm?" In such a dangerous situation, he was still in the mood to drink. He simply didn't take those Beili people seriously! But this seems normal. After all, your Majesty is a great master who made a big fuss in Tianqi City and walked away calmly under the siege of countless masters from Beili. If... your Majesty can take action, it would be great.

Thinking of this, Zhao Fugui said, "Your Majesty, will Beili send out masters from Xiaoyao Tianjing?"

As we all know, His Majesty is a man of his word and has always abided by the agreement between the two countries.

In other words, Xiaoyao Tianjing will not go to the battlefield and can only command battles at most.

The attack in Yunlin City was also because Beili mobilized a master from the Xiaoyaotian Realm.

"Yes!" Chu Zhao smiled confidently, then drank a glass of wine by himself: "So, I will drink."

"What does this have to do with drinking?" Zhao Fugui said he was a little confused.

"Because... I've been drinking and I'm ready to kill people!"

(End of this chapter)