bookcurios Chapter 423: The Battle of the Qiang People Entering the City
Chapter 423: The Battle of the Qiang People Entering the City
Shi Yongzhi commanded the heavy artillery to launch a fierce bombardment on the city wall. The earth-shaking explosion instantly destroyed all the artillery of the defenders on the city wall.
Under this powerful firepower, the city wall collapsed in many places, and bricks and stones were scattered everywhere.
The defenders fell into extreme chaos under this sudden attack, which also created an excellent opportunity for Qian Dazhuang's soldiers using mortars.
Seeing that the situation was favorable, they ran faster and faster.
Just as they were about to approach the city wall, all the artillery fire stopped abruptly.
Ge Pengfei knew that the enemy was about to enter the city, but the broken city walls could no longer form a solid line of defense.
After all, Shi Yongzhi had never received professional artillery command training, and he did not know how to launch an extended attack before attacking the city, which gave Ge Pengfei in the city some chance to catch his breath.
When the border troops climbed onto the city wall, the defenders on the opposite side also came forward to meet them without flinching.
As soon as the soldiers from both sides met, murderous intent burned in their eyes.
"kill……"
A roar resounded through the sky, and the soldiers on both sides immediately engaged in a bloody hand-to-hand fight.
The Qin army, armed with tiger-barreled cannons, occupied the commanding heights with the help of ladders, and at the damaged positions at both ends of the city wall, they used their weapons to fire at the reinforcements in the city.
Soldiers from both teams fought each other, the sound of killing was deafening, countless people were killed and wounded, blood flowed like a stream, dyed every inch of the city wall red.
The defenders in the distance were first hit by the Tiger Cannon, and then attacked by the mortars transported to the city wall. At one point, they had no choice but to retreat hundreds of steps to avoid the fierce offensive of the Qin army.
But this advantage did not last long. After the attacking Qin army completely occupied the north gate, they were soon met with a strong counterattack from the defenders.
Moreover, this counterattack was fierce and consisted of intensive artillery bombardment.
The city gate that had just been occupied was instantly engulfed by the thick smoke produced by the exploding artillery shells.
People kept rushing towards this direction, transporting light artillery here and launching a fierce attack on the Qin army positions.
……
The news of the capture of the North Gate spread like wildfire to the military camp of Zhang Heng and others.
"Hu Yimu, it looks like it's time for us to attack."
Inside the military tent, Zhang Heng said to Hu Yimu with a smile on his face.
"Yes, if we attack now, the pressure we face will surely be much less."
Hu Yimu stood up and carefully adjusted the leather armor on his body, especially the breastplate, and straightened it again and again to ensure that he was fully protected.
"Well, I'll order the artillery attack first. Once the wall collapses, you can lead your men on horseback and charge directly onto the wall."
When Zhang Heng saw Hu Yimu stand up, he also stood up and said.
The two men looked at each other tacitly, walked out of the military tent in tacit understanding, each gathered their troops, and headed towards Chang'an City.
The tactics adopted by Zhang Heng were simple and direct, which was to use large-caliber long-range cannons to concentrate attacks on the city walls.
Dozens of artillery pieces were deployed at once, aiming at several key locations and firing continuously.
As expected, this tactic was very effective.
After less than two quarters of an hour of artillery bombardment, several huge gaps appeared at the west gate of Chang'an.
Seeing this, Hu Yimu raised his steel knife high in his hand and shouted to the Qiang soldiers behind him: "My men, your chance to make a fortune has come! After entering the city, all the gold and silver you rob will be yours. If you die in battle, your families will receive double the money!"
When the Qiang soldiers heard this, they were all very excited. It seemed as if mountains of gold and silver treasures appeared in their eyes, and they shouted to charge forward.
Hu Yimu saw the right moment and shouted again: "Charge!"
As soon as the shout fell, countless war horses galloped past him, followed closely by the infantrymen without horses, holding their spears and charging forward bravely.
Tens of thousands of people surged like a tide, forming a black mass and heading straight for Chang'an City.
Zhang Heng's army was controlled by the Sima family. They were after territory. They were not afraid to enter the city to burn, kill and loot, but they were wary of it.
So their people watched at the edge of the city, with cold and indifferent expressions on their faces.
Inside the city, Ge Pengfei was organizing a counterattack against the Qin army when a soldier suddenly came to report, "General, the west gate has been captured, and a large number of enemies have entered the city!"
"ah!……?"
Ge Pengfei was shocked when he heard this, his body went limp and he fell into the chair, his face full of disbelief.
"How could this be?"
Ge Pengfei muttered to himself, his mind in a mess.
"What should we do, General?"
The soldier who came to report looked nervous and asked anxiously.
"Quick, quickly transfer the troops guarding the South Gate. We must drive out the enemies entering the city!"
Ge Pengfei screamed hysterically, his voice hoarse with fear and anger.
"Yes, my subordinates will go and deliver the order right away."
The soldier responded quickly, then turned and ran quickly towards the door.
Not long after the messenger left, Ge Pengfei said to the lieutenant general beside him, "Take the palace's personal guards and go see if there are any reserve troops to reinforce the west gate together."
When the lieutenant general saw Ge Pengfei so panicked, he immediately realized the seriousness of the situation.
"The general will obey the order."
The lieutenant general clasped his fists in response, then hurried out of the mansion and rushed over with his men.
……
Suddenly, Yimu's Qiang cavalry moved quickly and attacked like a whirlwind.
The lieutenant general had just found a reserve force of several thousand men when he saw the Qiang cavalry coming towards him like a whirlwind.
"Meet the enemy..."
When the reserve troops saw the enemy attacking, they shouted in unison.
Although the incident happened suddenly, they were all well-trained regular soldiers. Even though they now served Zhao Hong, they were once the palace soldiers of the Qin army.
Seeing the enemy cavalry galloping through the streets and heading straight for their camp, the soldiers with bows and arrows raised their bows and arrows and shot, while the soldiers with weapons gripped their weapons and prepared to fight back.
After shooting and killing dozens of Qiang cavalrymen, the two armies finally came into close combat and fought each other again.
The advantage of cavalry lies in the speed of charging. However, after entering the city, the space is limited, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry is greatly reduced, and its unique advantages are difficult to fully exert.
Even if he could kill one person, he would soon be stabbed off his horse by the spear behind him.
By the time the Qiang soldiers broke into the camp gate, the streets were already littered with corpses.
On the parade ground of the camp, the fighting between the cavalry became increasingly fierce, and occasionally there were scenes of cavalry chasing and killing infantry.
However, this place is ultimately the main battlefield of Zhao Hong's cavalry. Even though the Qiang warriors are brave and fearless, they dare not slack off in the slightest, for fear that at some inadvertent moment, a fatal arrow will whistle from the darkness and end everything.
The battle situation has reached a boiling point. Although the training ground is sparsely populated, the survivors still hold their weapons tightly, with an undying will to fight in their eyes. They vow to use their flesh and blood to build the last line of defense, fighting for life and death without retreating.
Just as the sound of war drums echoed in the ears of the Qiang cavalry, they suddenly heard a rapid and unfamiliar shouting of killing coming from afar. They looked closely and saw that in the flying dust, what was coming was not their own army, but the unexpected enemy.
The leader's heart sank, a bad omen brewing. He knew they were now surrounded by the enemy, with no escape route. He roared in frustration, "Retreat! Don't fight to the bitter end!"
After saying this, these brave soldiers, although filled with resentment and resentment, had no choice but to grit their teeth, turn around and break through, striving to find a glimmer of hope in the desperate situation.