Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 5: Jiuquan Recovery
"Uuuuuu——"

"Boom...boom...boom..."

On the battlefield, horns and shouts continued. Zhang Yichao stood steadily on the nest car, with a panoramic view of the East City.

Under his gaze, his three cloud chariots had approached the moat of Jiuquan, and the battering rams were waiting for an opportunity.

The moat of Jiuquan City is fed by the Jin River. The moat is more than three meters wide and is about ten steps away from the city wall.

Seeing the armored soldiers escorting the battering rams and cloud chariots to the moat, Zhang Yichao glanced sideways at the thirty-year-old general next to him.

Needless to say, the thirty-year-old general turned around and looked at the many unarmored sandbar soldiers who had been waiting for a long time behind him.

"Go out into battle!"

The thirty-year-old general drew his sword and signaled, and the standard-bearer next to him waved his flag.

Soon, the captains of each regiment began to take action. Except for the two regiments guarding the nest vehicle, the soldiers of the other four regiments all changed into wooden shields and digging tools.

The wounded Liu Jilong and Zhang Chang stood under the nest car and did not participate in the operation.

As they watched, more than 800 soldiers moved forward, and the team was somewhat disorganized.

Like Liu Jilian, they had only trained for a few dozen days in more than half a year, so they could only follow the captain into battle in a disorderly manner.

Fortunately, no one placed hope on them for the main attack, and their purpose was only to fill the moat of Jiuquan.

"Raise your shield!"

As the eight hundred soldiers relied on the cloud chariot to approach the moat, captains from each regiment spoke one after another and standard-bearers waved flags to signal.

The noisy team began to raise their shields slowly, and until most of them had raised their shields, the captains led them into the moat.

Seeing this, the Tibetan army on the city wall quickly bent their bows and drew their arrows under the command of their generals, continuously harassing the Shazhou army with rain of arrows.

During this period, many soldiers were unlucky and were hit by arrows through the gaps between their shields.

Seeing this, many armored soldiers raised their shields and stepped forward to rescue them from the river.

"Come closer, everyone!"

The captains, brigade commanders and team leaders began to play their roles. They kept commanding the unarmored soldiers to gather together to make the shield wall above their heads impenetrable.

While they raised their shields, some soldiers who were assigned to dig also began to dig.

Baskets of soil were carried to the front and poured into the moat.

The water flow in the moat of Jiuquan City was very slow, so in less than half an hour, the moat was cut off by the unarmored soldiers digging the ground.

But this is not enough. The loose earth bridge is not enough to support the cloud car and the battering ram to pass through, so now the earth bridge needs to be compacted.

Under Liu Jilong's gaze, flags began to wave on the nest car.

At the same time, the armored soldiers under the city wall also began to draw their bows and arrows, launching a counterattack against the more than 200 Tibetan soldiers on the top of the city.

Faced with the counterattack of the armored soldiers, the foreign soldiers in Jiuquan City fought back one after another, and for a while arrows intertwined in the sky above both sides.

However, this intertwined scene only lasted for a dozen breaths before it ended with the foreign soldiers being defeated and burying their heads behind the women's wall.

Seeing that there was no danger from arrows, many unarmored sandbar soldiers began to compact the earthen bridge with the stone plates that had been prepared long ago.

During this period, the foreign soldiers also tried to launch a sneak attack, but every time they showed their head, they were suppressed by the arrows shot by the Shazhou armored soldiers, so they could only fight back through the holes in the parapet.

Fortunately, some of the rioting unarmored soldiers finally formed a shield wall under the command of the captains and brigade commanders, rendering all the efforts of the foreign soldiers in vain.

"Today is the day to recapture Jiuquan!"

In the back, Liu Jilong saw everything in front of him with his extraordinary eyesight, and couldn't help but tell the result.

At this time, a young man not far from him also chuckled and said, "You are quite perceptive."

Liu Jilong looked over and saw that the man was wearing armor and had a belt with a decoration on his waist, so he knew that he was a lieutenant. The young man raised his chin slightly and said arrogantly: "If these foreign soldiers had formed a battle array outside the city relying on the moat, they would have been able to hold on. It's a pity that they have no courage and are hiding in the city, which means they will die."

"May I ask the Captain how we can defend ourselves outside the city?" Liu Jilong never missed any opportunity to gain knowledge.

Hearing this, the young man glanced at Liu Jilong, and then said: "The army will rely on the moat and the suspension bridge to form a battle array, set up trenches, ram's horns, and chevaux de frise outside the camp, and echo the defenders on the city wall from a distance, and then use the arrow towers and winch crossbows to provide support..."

"In this way, with only a hundred soldiers, we can firmly hold one side of the city wall, making it difficult for the enemy to move easily."

The young man raised his finger and said, "When it comes to defending a city, the worst thing is to stay inactive. We should attack the enemy from the city, so that the enemy will be exhausted while our army will wait for them to tire themselves out inside the city."

"These foreign soldiers have lost their courage and dare not set up camp outside the city. Then our army will be like a fish in water. However, we can rely on our large number of troops to move back and forth at the four city gates. In this way, they will lose the initiative."

The young man's words made Liu Jilong understand a little bit.

Originally he thought that defending a city was simply defending the city, but after listening to the young man's words he realized that there were so many ways to defend a city.

Indeed, if one wants to defend against a counterattack, or to contain the enemy, setting up a camp outside the city gate is undoubtedly a good idea.

If the enemy attacks, it is impossible for them to ignore the camp and force their way across the moat, so they must definitely remove this nail first.

If the city defense equipment is sufficient, then one can rely on the crossbows and catapults on the city walls to inflict maximum damage to the enemy.

After all, in such a small space, even if hundreds of thousands of people rushed up, our side would only have to face a hundred or so people.

"Defend while attacking..."

Liu Jilong murmured, then turned his gaze to the battlefield ahead.

Under his gaze, the cloud car and battering ram began to move, and it was obvious that the earth bridge had been compacted.

As the earthen bridge was compacted, the cloud chariot and battering ram successfully crossed the moat with the help of the soldiers and arrived under the city wall.

The foreign soldiers had to draw their bows and arrows to fight back, but it was all in vain.

The Shazhou soldiers began to place the cloud chariots and climbed towards the city wall along the cloud chariots' ladders.

The foreign soldiers began to throw stones, wooden sticks and boiling water, and for a while, shrill screams continued to be heard from the front.

Zhang Chang turned pale upon hearing this, while Liu Jilian watched the two hundred armored soldiers rushing forward.

They attracted a large number of foreign soldiers, and the unarmored Shazhou soldiers, under the command of the captains, took over the task of battering rams and launched an attack towards the Jiuquan city gate.

As they were rushing towards the city gate, a black, sticky substance suddenly fell from above the gate.

Before they could react, a huge fire burned dozens of people alive.

"Uh-huh!!"

Amid screams, the burning man began to flee towards the moat at the rear, bumping into many people during the process, causing fire to quickly break out wherever he touched.

"Limestone..."

On the nest car, the thirty-year-old general had a grim face and squeezed out these two words from between his teeth.

In front of him, Zhang Yichao was as steady as a rock, not at all sad about the dozens of soldiers being set on fire.

The sound of trumpets and drums continued as the remaining unarmored soldiers pulled out the burning battering ram, replaced it with a new one, and launched a new round of attack on the city gate.

Under their attack, Jiuquan's defense line was in danger, and even several armored Shazhou soldiers landed on the top of the city.

"Kill the foreign dogs!"

"Kill the fan..."

Suddenly, anxious voices were heard in the city, and Zhang Yichao on the nest car also breathed a sigh of relief.

His goal was finally achieved, and the big thing was settled...

(End of this chapter)