Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 427: Arrows Fly and Scholars Compete for the Lead

December 8th, Chao County.

After stabilizing the camp in the early morning, the Wusheng Army only left a small number of regular troops and more than a thousand soldiers recruited from the Central Plains to guard the camp. Then the entire army marched forward and launched an attack on Chao County.

This was not what Da Huaizhen wanted, but as Huang Hengsan said yesterday, Wusheng Army had no choice.

In the understanding of the high-ranking generals of the Wusheng Army, the only chance of victory now is to capture Chao County while the Jingnan Army has not yet completed its reorganization and is unable to leave the city to face the enemy head-on.

If they had waited a little longer to allow the Jingnan army to get used to each other, and even without having to fight a brilliant battle, the Wusheng army would have been defeated if they had just been able to hold their ground.

Although both sides were racing against time, in the final analysis, Wusheng Army was more pressed for time. Not only was he facing the threat of Cheng Min, but more importantly, the Jingnan Army's temporary failure was marked by the fact that he failed to eliminate Wusheng Army before Wanyan Liang captured Dongguan.

The moment Wanyan Liang was forced to return to the Wusheng Army, officers at all levels would face huge political disadvantages.

It is because your Wusheng Army failed to guard the rear route that the army led by His Majesty returned empty-handed. Even Da Huaizhen's cousin Da Huaizhong cannot bear the blame for such a large scale.

Therefore, the Wusheng Army had to fight, and they would use all their strength from the beginning.

Liu Huai stood on a watchtower northwest of Chao County's city wall, watching the Jin army marching toward the city in battle formation. He crossed his arms, frowning and saying, "What are these Jin thieves planning? No artillery? No siege equipment? They're attacking the city without even setting up a siege camp?"

What Liu Huai said was common sense in war.

The defenders don't just stand on the city wall and take a beating, passively defending like a turtle. In fact, if it comes to this point, the battle to defend the city has already been half lost.

This was also one of the reasons why Wusheng Army generals such as Da Huaizhen and Huang Hengsan misjudged the Jingnan Army.

Because if the defenders cannot leave the city to fight, it means that the city is only protected by the city walls. The attackers can fail countless times, but the defenders will lose everything if they fail once.

Therefore, the defenders have to find a way to fight outside the city no matter what, and correspondingly, the attackers will also try their best to beat back the defenders who are fighting outside the city.

In a siege, the attackers will be in a defensive position from time to time. However, if the commander of the attackers has some military knowledge, he will not attack the city without setting up a siege camp.

At this time, Liu Huai really wanted to ask Da Huaizheng: Aren’t you really afraid that I will take advantage of the scattered troops when you attack the city, lead my elite troops out, and directly attack your retreat?

Da Huaizhen was of course afraid, but he had no choice.

Time is too urgent.

The generals of the Jingnan Army were unaware of all this.

Lei Ben, who was more mature and prudent, bowed and asked, "Master, is this a trick?"

Liu Huai thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "What kind of trick could this be? Could he possibly conjure up 10,000 soldiers?"

He Boqiu's heart raced upon hearing this: "Could it be that the main force of the Jin bandits bypassed the East Gate and joined forces with the Wusheng Army? They are now hiding somewhere, waiting for our army to tire and then reappear to strike the decisive blow?"

Before Liu Huai could speak, Xin Qiji was the first to refute: "Mr. He San, what you said is wrong. We are next to Chaohu Lake. General Yang and Brother Liang have no rivals in Chaohu Lake. The lake residents are also willing to inquire about the news. At least there is no unusual movement around Chaohu Lake.

We've also sent scouts to Hanshan, and everything is normal. To put it bluntly, the only troops we can't detect are small groups, but a small group of Jin troops can't change the overall situation. After all, the Jingnan army is not a soft loach, and the Jin thieves are not Yellow Turban warriors who can create an army with just a few beans."

Liu Huai nodded, and thought for a moment: "Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore."

After saying this, he turned around and looked at his generals: "According to the military agreement of the day before yesterday, everyone will perform their duties!"

"Here!"

Zhang Xiaoyi and others responded loudly and left.

After a while, bursts of drum sounded from the top of Chao County City, and the flags of various generals were erected and waved high.

"Kill the thief!"

"Kill the thief!"

"Kill the bandits!" A neat shout rang out from the top of the city wall. For a moment, swords and spears were like a forest, and armor shone in the sun. The morale of the Jingnan army was also boosted.

Du Kang was in the northern half of the east city wall. When he heard the shouts and screams, his blood boiled. For a moment, he forgot the burning pain in his back and raised his spear and shouted loudly.

This is the position defended by Luo Shenyan's troops. There are only 400 regular soldiers on the city wall, including about 160 veterans of the Jingnan Army, and the rest are newly recruited soldiers.

Although these soldiers have been organized into organizations with clear superiors and subordinates, and there are no problems with their individual combat effectiveness, they are, after all, a mixture of defeated soldiers from all over the country. Their overall combat effectiveness will have to be determined by the baptism of this battle.

Luo Shenyan personally stood on a watchtower on the top of the city wall to command the battle.

His deputy general Sun Zhaozhong led 600 armored soldiers to sit cross-legged at the foot of the city, ready to support the city or fight outside the city at any time.

The remaining 700 regular troops were further back, preparing to fight on the city walls, and were resting at this time.

The rest of the walls are similar to this place, with old soldiers leading new soldiers and training the army through war.

Huang Jie patted Du Kang on the back. The burning pain made Du Kang come back to his senses and glared at Huang Jie.

"What are you looking at? What are you shouting about? Save your energy!"

Huang Jie, a sergeant, was also a grassroots officer before. He knew that being a little excited at this time would certainly help boost morale, but if he couldn't control his emotions, it would also consume a lot of energy, and it would be difficult to fight the enemy when the battle came.

Didn't you see those veteran soldiers shouting and clamoring just as loudly, but with little emotional reaction? They hadn't even started the battle yet, so why act like they had already won?

"Remember this!" When the noise died down a bit, Huang Jie shouted orders to his ten subordinates: "Just as we said before, five of you will stab people with spears, two will pour the golden juice, and two will push the ladder with the push rod. If any thieves climb the city, Du Kang and I will go up first and fight them. Don't panic."

Huang Jie pointed to the Jin army that had already deployed below the city walls. "Don't underestimate these Jin bandits. Even if they had tens of thousands, they would still have to climb up the ladders one by one! Even if you made a mistake, don't panic. Fix it as soon as possible. One of these Jin bandits is facing ten of us. He'll definitely be even more panicked! Do you understand?"

Some of the ten people nodded nonchalantly, while others were obviously nervous.

This wasn't surprising, considering some of these new recruits had been regular Song soldiers, while others had signed up for revenge and had never even touched a knife. Even if they were all Song soldiers, the differences between them were enormous.

Could Cheng Min’s Beiwei Army be the same as the newly formed civilian camp?
However, Huang Jie didn't think it was a big deal.

This is how the brave soldiers have come through. As long as they fight a few battles and survive, and are supported by fair rewards and punishments and sufficient supplies, they will become elite even if they are not elite.

Whether it can be accomplished depends on this shiver!
Huang Jie secretly encouraged himself.

"lead!"

The crossbowmen moved forward, reached the parapet, and drew their bows and drew their arrows at the command of their officers.

At this time, the Jin army also urged the Qian army to launch the first round of exploratory attacks. Nearly a thousand Qian army carried hastily made flying ladders and launched an attack on the city with red eyes.

"put!"

In Huang Jie's sight, the arrows formed a cloud that moved like a swarm of high-speed flying bees, pressing down hard on the soldiers who had disrupted their formation while running.

"kill!"

"Those who reach the top of the city wall will be rewarded...Ah!!!"

Arrows fell into the crowd like boiling water falling into a migrating ant colony, instantly knocking a group of people to the ground. Nearly a hundred people who were hit by arrows lay on the ground. Only a few of them were killed by the arrows, and most of them were only injured by arrows of varying degrees. They rolled on the ground wailing. Part of the Qian army also became stagnant, and dozens of people even threw down the ladders they were carrying and fled backwards.

"Those who retreat will die!"

Da Hongshan, who was supervising the battle in front of the battlefield, was furious and ordered his cavalry to advance and kill on the spot all the soldiers who dared to escape.

However, when the Qian army mustered up their courage again and attacked the city wall, Dahongshan did not show any joy or excitement, but instead looked confused and at a loss.

There's something...not right about this city.

(End of this chapter)