Chapter 213
There was no need to continue the fight. Zhan Wudi knew that he was no match for the enemy general in front of him and could not win. He quickly drew out two swords, retreated from the circle, took two deep breaths, and then turned his head to shout at his soldiers: "Brothers, charge together and destroy the enemy TXT download!"
He had just finished shouting, and the Ning soldiers' attack had not yet begun. There was a sudden chaos in the rear of the camp. It turned out that Tang Yin, who led 2,000 Feng soldiers, had already caught up at this time. He slashed and killed the Ning soldiers from behind, and beat the Ning soldiers in the rear to flee in all directions, crying for their parents.
Zhan Wudi may be a brave general, but he is definitely not a good commander who is proficient in leading troops in battle. Seeing the enemy attacking from behind again, he was anxious before others could react. He ordered without hesitation: "Retreat! Retreat immediately! The whole army retreats to the camp!"
In fact, if he looked back carefully, he would definitely find that there were not many enemies, only about 2,000 people. Shangguan Yuanrang who was blocking him also had 3,000 people. In total, there were only 5,000 people, and Zhan Wudi had 80,000 soldiers. As long as he could hold his ground, it would be easy to destroy these 5,000 enemy troops. However, his confidence was chopped off by Shangguan Yuanrang's sword at this time. He also felt that his side was now attacked from both sides and it was not suitable to continue fighting. Without thinking too much, he ordered the whole army to retreat early.
If they fought head-on, the Ning army would naturally have a huge advantage. But once they chose to retreat, the soldiers would lose their fighting spirit. Although they had a large number of troops, they were chased and beaten by the Feng army, which had few people. They were in a mess. The Ning army that survived by chance almost crawled back to their own camp.
Tang Yin and Shangguan Yuanrang met up. The latter laughed loudly, looked back at the Ning army's northern camp, which was on fire, and said excitedly: "Sir, how about we fight back and attack them again?"
Hearing this, Tang Yin laughed. Although he also wanted to continue chasing and killing, his reason suppressed the impulse in his body. The Ning army was defeated not because they could not beat them, but because the camp was on fire, and the army was in chaos. If they entered the enemy's camp to continue fighting, the Ning army would be desperate and desperate. They would have to sacrifice as many people as they entered. Moreover, the Ning army's northern camp was on fire, and reinforcements from other camps would arrive soon. If they continued to fight, it would be very disadvantageous to them. Thinking of this, he waved his hand at Shangguan Yuanrang and said in a straightforward manner: "Don't fight to the end, retreat to the city!"
"Oh..." Shangguan Yuanrang was a little unwilling. He looked back at the chaotic Northern Camp of the Ning Army, and then looked at Tang Yin, whose expression was firm and would not tolerate rejection. The corners of his mouth moved, and he muttered a few words in a low voice. He still obeyed Tang Yin's order and led his three thousand soldiers to follow Tang Yin back to his own city.
They retreated, and those Ning soldiers who slid down from the top of the city also wanted to retreat to their camp. The two sides met head-on, and it was inevitable that there would be another fight. At the beginning, nearly 20,000 Ning soldiers who attacked the top of the city were killed on the city, and another group died when they retreated. Less than 10,000 retreated to the camp safely.
This siege ended hastily with Zhan Wudi hastily withdrawing his troops to put out the fire. The fighting time between the two sides was not long, but there were many casualties. The Feng Army lost thousands of soldiers and a corps commander was killed. The original 10,000 soldiers under Shen Zhichen and Bai Jie were reduced by more than half, and the Ning Army lost nearly 10,000 soldiers. The casualties on both sides were similar, and no one got the upper hand.
However, the Ning Army had a large number of casualties, and the 10,000 casualties did not affect its vitality, while the Feng Army was not the case. The casualties of several thousand people were already a serious injury. In particular, the death of Bai Jie disrupted Tang Yin's original deployment. He had no choice but to push Shaoyang against the north wall to strengthen the defense of the north city.
Not long after, the fire in the north camp of the Ning Army was controlled. At this time, Zhan Wudi's mood calmed down. Thinking about the battle just now, the more he thought about it, the more depressed and angry he became. He had already led the people to attack the top of the city, why didn't he seize the opportunity and was *repelled by the other side?
After a fierce battle, his own side suffered heavy casualties, but did not achieve any results. How could he face his elder brother? At this time, Zhan Wudi was also worried. It was not until this time that he remembered his advisers and generals. He gathered everyone together, looked at Jinhua City from a distance, and asked: "Generals, sirs, should we continue to attack next?" Hearing this, everyone looked at each other and smiled bitterly in their hearts. Zhan Wudi was stubborn and would not listen to anyone except Zhan Wushuang. The situation was so good just now, and he should have rushed into the city in one go, but he was worried about the fire in the rear camp and missed the opportunity. People were silent for a moment, then said in unison: "Of course we must continue to attack! Although we suffered heavy casualties in the previous battle, the enemy also suffered heavy casualties. The general should continue to exert pressure and not give the enemy in the city a chance to breathe!"
"But..." At this time, Zhan Wudi's confidence was not enough. He said with heavy concerns: "The enemy general is very powerful. If our army attacks by force, I am afraid... we may not be able to gain an advantage..."
"Hey?" A counselor waved his hand and said: "General, don't worry. The enemy general is powerful, but after all, there is only one. Two fists cannot beat four hands. If they can stop so many generals of our army, the general can send the students of Lingwu Academy to the battlefield and let them charge. With these students of Lingwu Academy leading the charge and disrupting the enemy soldiers, our army's siege will be smoother!"
"Ah!" Upon hearing this, Zhan Wudi's worry disappeared from his face, and he thought to himself: Yes, how could I forget those people from Lingwu Academy? ! Instead of leaving them in the army to eat dry food, it is better to bring them to the battlefield. With their Lingwu, they will be of great help to our side.
He nodded repeatedly, and even his tone became very polite. He smiled and said: "Sir, what you said is very right. Let's do it according to your idea! Tell me to bring all the students from Lingwu Academy here and let them participate in the siege!"
"Yes! General!" The guards on the left and right agreed and rushed away.
After waiting for about half an hour, the students of Lingwu Academy came together to receive the order. There are more than 50 Lingwu students accompanying the army this time. The oldest is 23 or 24 years old, and the youngest is only 16 or 17 years old. There are both men and women. More than half of them are children of Ningguo dignitaries, and the other half are Lingwu talents selected from the people.
Seeing that all the Lingwu students had arrived, Zhan Wudi led them to a high ground, pointed to Jinhua City in the distance, and said: "Our army will launch a large-scale attack on the city later. At that time, you will cooperate with the soldiers who are attacking the city, take the lead in killing the enemy on the top of the city, disrupt the enemy's defense, and create favorable conditions for our soldiers. Is there any problem?"
These Lingwu students are young and fearless. After hearing Zhan Wudi's words, not only did they not show any fear, but their faces were full of excitement. The students said in unison: "General, don't worry. We will go into battle and kill the enemy without leaving a single piece of armor!"
"Yes!" Zhan Wudi liked to hear this. He responded, laughed up to the sky, and clapped his hands and said: "You are worthy of being a rising star in my Daning army! If we can succeed in the battle today, you will all make great contributions. When we return to Liangzhou, I will ask the king for credit and reward for you!"
"Thank you, general, just wait and see!"
"If we can't win, we will come back with our heads!"
The morale of the Lingwu students was high, and they all looked confident. As the saying goes, it takes a thousand days to train an army, but only one day to use it. They have been training hard in Lingwu Academy for several years, but have never been on the battlefield or participated in actual combat. They are almost praised to the sky on weekdays, and now everyone wants to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy and show off their achievements.
Zhan Wudi was overjoyed when he heard this, and without delay, he sent down the order for the entire army to attack and continue to attack the city.
The more than 90,000 Ning troops did not have much time to rest, and rushed out of the camp again, killing towards the north city of Jinhua.
At this time, Tang Yin, Shangguan Yuanrang, Shaoyang, and Shen Zhichen were all there, and the number of soldiers defending the city increased to 20,000. Seeing the Ningguo army coming again from a distance, Tang Yin squinted his eyes, his eyes flickered, and I don’t know what he was thinking. Shangguan Yuanrang turned around and bowed, saying, "Sir, I will go out of the city to meet the enemy!"
Tang Yin waved his hand. The enemy was too numerous. Now was not a good time to meet the enemy. He said, "Instead of going out of the city to fight, it is better to stay on the city and wait for the enemy to tire themselves out."
Before anyone else could speak, Shen Zhichen nodded repeatedly and replied, "Your Excellency is right. General Yuanrang must not attack rashly!" Bai Jie's death was a painful lesson. It didn't matter if he died, but he also caused thousands of soldiers to die, making the initial defense of the city extremely passive, and the Feng army suffered a great loss.
With Tang Yin's obstruction, Shangguan Yuanrang could only suppress his warlike heart and walked to the edge of the city wall, leaning on a three-pointed double-edged sword in one hand and holding the arrow slit with the other hand, looking up at the enemy's square formation.
When the Ning army's square formation was less than a hundred meters away from Jinhua City, Tang Yin knew that the Ning army's arrow formation was coming soon. He turned around and gave the order, asking the soldiers to raise their shields to avoid the arrows from the Ning army.
As expected, before long, tens of thousands of arrows flew from the top of the Ning army's square formation. The eagle feathers were hanging in the wind, whistling into the sky, drawing beautiful arcs in the sky, and fell to the top of the city.
Ding Ding Dang Dang - in an instant, the crisp sound of arrows hitting the stone wall and shields was endless. With such dense arrows, the Feng army was suppressed and couldn't even show their heads.
It was not until the vanguard of the Ning army approached the city wall and set up the cloud ladder that the arrows from the Ning army square formation were declared to stop. What followed was the most brutal battle between the two sides.
The densely packed Ning army set up ladders, either swarming up or shooting arrows to cover them. The Feng army on the top of the city either shot back arrows to block the attack or threw down rolling logs and stones. Soldiers from both camps were shot and fell to the ground from time to time.
The siege here had just begun, and the spiritual martial arts students mixed in with the Ning army soldiers quietly sneaked to a place where there were relatively few Feng soldiers, covered themselves with spiritual armor, and then quickly climbed up. The cultivation of these students was above the transformation realm. More than 50 spiritual warriors with such cultivation suddenly appeared on the battlefield. No matter who the opponent was, they would be killed by surprise.