A son who doesn't resemble his father? Love you, old man, see you at Xuanwu Gate!

Chapter 180 Bloody Battle

At midnight, the Xiongnu army, amidst the sounds of battle, arrived near the Taihang Mountains, and an unprecedentedly fierce battle suddenly broke out.

The Xiongnu army, advancing from the south, clashed suddenly with the Han garrison, which was defending the north, in the town of Dai.

Under the blue sky and bright moon, tens of thousands of cavalrymen swept across the mountains like boundless waves, and countless cavalrymen galloped around the mountain city, determined to cross the high city walls and deep moats, break into Han City and plunder it.

The roar was deafening, displaying great power.

The two sides of the city were set up, one side was covered in white sheepskin, and the other side was covered in dark leather armor that was reddish-brown. They were easy to distinguish.

The one besieging the city was Yizhixie, the Xiongnu Chanyu who had seized the throne.

The one defending the city was Cheng Bushi, an invincible general of the Han dynasty.

The Han and Xiongnu fought for nearly a century. Regardless of who attacked or defended, both sides developed a complete set of offensive and defensive strategies through long-term exploration.

Although the Xiongnu had no intention of occupying Han territory for most of the time, nomadic peoples still had their own routine plans for conquering cities and seizing land.

The tribal chief selected his most trusted confidants, who were skilled in horsemanship and archery, to form a special task force to besiege the city and search for weak points in the city wall of Daixian before attempting to scale the wall and enter.

If that fails, the main force of the Xiongnu will then send out hundreds or thousands of light cavalrymen, who will carry hoes and use their archery skills to suppress the defenders while quickly digging breaches in the city walls.

This is the famous "excavation of the city wall".

It's "clumsy," but extremely "practical."

Cities and fortifications, like the Great Wall, have always been insurmountable barriers for nomadic tribes. The best way for a large army to enter a city is to destroy it. As long as they can breach the city wall, even just a corner, the elite Xiongnu cavalry, moving like clouds, will immediately have an absolute advantage.

In order to divert troops from the other three sides of the city, Yizhixie sent out 10,000 cavalrymen to tie plows to long poles and push these poles forward in carts to the city wall. While hiding under the carts to avoid arrows, flammable oil, stones and flammable oil, they pushed the long poles with plows out. When the plows got caught on the battlements, the Xiongnu elite cavalrymen dismounted and climbed up the poles.

Some impatient Xiongnu elite cavalrymen simply abandoned their chariots, wrapped themselves in multiple layers of leather armor, and charged uphill with poles. However, such "fearless pioneers" often met with tragic deaths.

When Yizhixie and the other tribal chiefs saw this scene, none of them offered any advice. The battlefield is a place where the fittest survive, and the elite cavalry that were eliminated at this time were either unlucky or too foolish.

In short, this can reduce the number of fools in the tribe and also deplete the defensive equipment in Hancheng.

"Digging into the city" and "climbing the city walls" were the two main methods used by nomadic tribes to break through Han city walls, and the Xiongnu's siege warfare officially began.

On the city wall of Dai County, Cheng Bushi ordered all the immobile large repeating crossbows to fire simultaneously, raining down on the central area in front of the city.

In addition, endless flying stones, rolling logs, boulders, and raging fire arrows whistled down upon the flying cavalry below and near the city.

The riders who were hit by the stone or the arrow always fell silently from the city walls and their horses, dying on the spot.

The crossbows used in the Han Dynasty were inherited from the Qin crossbows. They could fire long arrows in rapid succession without being able to penetrate any obstacle. With the help of high walls, they could shoot as far as 800 paces away. Each long arrow was as thick as a child's arm and about 10 feet long, with an arrowhead that resembled a spear. Even ordinary city gates could not withstand a volley of arrows in a short time.

However, such technology has been mastered only by the Central Plains regimes throughout history; nomadic tribes have never possessed such a powerful siege weapon.

Countless crossbow bolts flew wildly, each one capable of piercing or felling several elite Xiongnu cavalrymen. When the crossbow bolts were ignited with raging oil, rockets flew into the Xiongnu army. The leather clothing and armor worn by the Xiongnu cavalrymen immediately became the best fuel for the fire. In an instant, flames roared, blood splattered, and men and horses fell, turning the area into a sea of ​​fire!
"Continue to breach the city and slaughter all the Han soldiers!"

Izhixie was furious and sent reinforcements to breach the city in turn, showing no fear or retreat.

But the long arrowheads and the torrential rain of flying stones seemed endless, relentlessly pelting the Xiongnu cavalry. Even as Yizhixie repeatedly reinforced his troops and breached the city, with battle cries echoing like a tidal wave, several hours passed, and Daixian City remained unmoved.

Before the Xiongnu elite cavalry lay piles of corpses of their fellow tribesmen, trampling over their remains. The Xiongnu elite cavalry could almost leap onto the walls of Daixian County.

As time passed, the enormous sun unknowingly rose above the mountain peak. Before Yizhixie could even feel joy at the prospect of the city falling, his heart suddenly began to beat erratically.

Where is the sound of marching?

"Great Chanyu!"

"Great Chanyu!"

"Wei Qing is attacking!"

"Wei Qing is leading the Han army to attack!"

"Who?"

Yi Zhixie was incredulous and grabbed the scout, "Who did you say?"

"Wei Qing".

"Han army".

The scout quickly replied, "Wei Qing is leading countless Han soldiers and attacking from behind our territory."

"How can this be?"

Yi Zhixie could not believe it. According to Liu Pengzu, the King of Zhao of the Han Dynasty, the problem of food and supplies had not been solved. Wei Qing was either still in Chang'an or had just headed north. Did Wei Qing and the Han army behind him fly over?
impossible! Absolutely impossible!
"Great Chanyu, we've fallen into a trap!"

Zhao Xin approached, lamenting, "This is an ambush by the Han court! Our tribe's hundreds of thousands of troops have been attacking Dai County for so long, yet we haven't even breached a single corner of the city. The Han general defending the city is definitely not the previous one. From what I know, it's either Li Guang or Cheng Bushi, most likely Li Guang. Everyone says he was ordered by the Han court to attack our tribe's left flank, but he's never been seen. It turns out he's been hiding in Dai for a long time. The young ruler of the Han has played a grand game! Great Chanyu, we're finished! Our tribe is finished!"

The perfect defense of Dai County and the disappearance of the Han general led Zhao Xin to a wonderful misunderstanding.

In his view, with Li Guang in front and Wei Qing behind, a Han general who showed the Xiongnu a warning and a Han general who made the Xiongnu truly wary, they had dug a huge pit for the Xiongnu and were about to bury them.

The advantage of the Xiongnu, or rather all foreign tribes, over the Han Dynasty and the Central Plains regime lay in the high deployment speed brought by their horses. However, in close-quarters combat, the Xiongnu were at a complete disadvantage in such terrain, especially since the quality of the Han Dynasty's iron weapons far surpassed theirs, making it no exaggeration to say that they were at a huge disadvantage.

Yi Zhixie gritted her teeth, "How many men did Wei Qing bring?"

"So many, so many, boundless, covering the mountains and plains, countless." The scout's eyes were filled with fear as he recalled.

The Han army's advance shook the mountains and rivers; in his perception, they outnumbered the Xiongnu cavalry by a great deal.

With all hope shattered, Yizhixie drew his golden sword and roared, "The Han court dared to plot an ambush against our people! Good! Just what I wanted! Issue my order: all those who can fight, mount your horses and fight Wei Qing to the death, slaughtering the entire Han army—"

"Kill all the Han troops!"

"Kill all the Han troops!"

(End of this chapter)