stubborn thief

Chapter 160 Wen'anyi Breakout Battle
On the seventh midnight of the siege of Wen'an Post City, the city was brightly lit.

The dim moonlight shone on the ground, and Ai Mu stood at the top of the city, looking back at the busy city.

One by one Tongbao was distributed, bags of soil were placed in the city gate, and the remaining dry food was distributed to everyone.

The sergeants were dismantling the horseshoes and wrapping them in cloth. The eyes of the animals were all blindfolded, and the bridles were tightened so that the mounts would not make any noise.

A pair of waist knives and spearheads smeared with ash from the bottom of the pot were placed on the street, and the sergeants covered their noses and scratched the golden juice with the blade of the weapon.

They want to break through.

Ai Huaiguang said in the city: "Father, the bonfire is dark."

He was talking about the bonfires outside the city. Every evening, the rogues outside the city would light a string of bonfires fifty paces outside the city.

The bonfire was refueled three times a night, and there was nearly a quarter of an hour before each refueling. The fire was dim and it was difficult to see the city gate.

"Order the whole army to silence and open the city gate."

Ai Mu knew that the thieves outside the city were waiting for him to fire the cannon. The cannon fire meant that there was not much food and grass, so there was no need to cherish gunpowder, and he could only prepare to break through.

So he never fired a cannon from beginning to end.

In fact, the best direction to break through is to the west of the city, but the stone bridge over the moat is too loud for war horses to step on.

Once blocked there, they couldn't make a quick assault.

These defensive fortifications sometimes cause difficulties in breaking out.

Therefore, the direction to break out of the siege can only be the east of the city where Gao Xian's left post is stationed.

The slight creaking sound echoed in the city gate, and the two heavy city gates were slowly opened. The officers and soldiers stood in the city gate, looking at the lit bandit camp on the other side of the river, not daring to breathe.

After a pause, there was no movement in the camp.

Teams of officers and soldiers marched slowly along the south wall of the post city according to prior arrangements.

The vanguard troops had already reached the southeast corner tower, and the rear troops hadn't come out of the city yet, and groups of officers and troops stopped under the corner tower.

In the dark, few people could see the distance, they were people next to people, horses by horses, without making a sound.

Firewood was added to the bonfires at the corner of the west city, and then one after another bonfires illuminated the outside of the city like daylight again.

The last thing Aim wanted to see happened. The troops still in the city stopped dispatching.

Not long after, the voice of the subordinate Qian Zong came from the turret: "General, please break out of the siege, the humble position in the city will cut off the general's heir."

"Come down, come down!"

There was no response from the city, but someone lit a torch on the gate tower of the south gate.

Ai Mu stopped talking, and led more than a thousand subordinates to go eastward in the dark.

Soon the first trench was reached, and bags of soil filled the passage, and men and horses passed by.

Just as the troops were halfway through, someone stepped on the air and fell into the ditch with wooden piles. Although the man didn't make a sound, the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground still alerted the bandit sentry not far away.

The voices were getting closer, and they began to walk quickly.

The second trench had just filled in a three-foot-wide path, and not far away, a bandit soldier held a torch to look over, and shot a few arrows.

"Official army breaks through!"

Screams pierced the silence under the night.

The entire camp in the east of the city was in chaos. The bandit soldiers were wearing armor and horses, and some of them pulled out to check the line of defense before they were fully dressed.

In the dark night, all banners are useless, and Ai Huaiguang blew the low-pitched horn.

Suddenly, teams crossed the second ditch that had not been completely filled, assembled for a while, and turned to assault eastward.

Gao Xian, who was sitting in the tent, was awakened by the sound of the horn, he opened his eyes suddenly, got up with the sound of armor plates colliding all over his body, moved his paralyzed legs, and bumped into the subordinates who rushed to report.

"Chief whistle, the officers and soldiers have already rushed through the second ditch!"

Gao Xian didn't panic, they all knew that the officers and soldiers would break out from Dongcheng, and the day of breaking out was getting closer and closer, so they had already made full psychological preparations.

Even hearing the news that the officers and soldiers had broken through, Gao Xian was relieved in his heart.

During these seven days and nights, the defenders in the city had a hard time, and so did his subordinates.

As the key line of defense for the officers and troops to break through, one team remained undisarmed every night for the first three days; two teams remained undisarmed from the fourth day onwards, and three teams remained undisarmed since last night.

There is no such thing as a thousand-day defense against thieves in this world.

That is to say, thanks to the lack of food and grass for the officers and soldiers, otherwise, in two days, all their soldiers would have to stand on guard. This kind of defense put too much pressure on their physical and mental strength.

He said: "Order the left and right teams to set up wooden bridges to outflank the enemy's rear, and the middle and rear teams to wear armor."

There is no need to notify the front team, his sentry is divided into five teams, and the tents are rotated every day. The front team's tent is located on the edge of the second ditch.

This meeting should have already joined the battle with the official army.

Sure enough, at this moment, the sound of a gushing pearl cannon was heard from afar.

The bright direction of the artillery fire is the direction in which the officers and soldiers are attacking.

On the edge of the two trenches under the night, fighting has begun.

Even if you hold a piece in your mouth, you can't resist the wood thorns from penetrating your feet. When the wailing sounded, the musketeers outside the barracks at the left post immediately fired in the direction of the screaming.

Then the horses fell down, and the officers and soldiers came with their waist knives smeared with ashes, and small teams charged eastward under the cover of night.

The sound of fighting woke up the entire besieged camp.

Like Gao Xian, Liu Chengzong sat in his tent and slept in his armor. He was suddenly awakened by the sound of cannons and shouts of killing.

There was a large army gathered in the camp in the south of the city, all the troops were awakened, and assembled under the orders of their respective leaders.

The fastest to report was Zhong Bao's family Ding Ma Bing, and then Yang Yao galloped himself to ask for orders.

Liu Chengzong looked at the brightly lit city, looked up at the city with his binoculars, and said: "There are still people in the city, and the high sentinel may not be able to stop everyone. The sentinel Yang led the cavalry five miles east to intercept them." Official army."

Then Cao Yao and Feng Ru rectified the sergeants to come together, and Liu Chengzong assigned Feng Ru to lead his troops to rush to rescue Gao Xian, leaving Cao Yao's artillery post in the army.

Outside the city, the lights were in the dark, and the artillery from the cannon whistle was scattered, and it might hurt more to hit one's own family than the enemy.

"You defend the Chinese army, don't let them break through here, Feng Ru!" Liu Chengzong stepped forward to stop Feng Ru who was about to leave, and said: "Tell your people, once the tail catches up with the enemy, call after the battle, Ai Mu Those who have died will not be killed!"

Feng Ru was stunned when he heard the order, and then nodded heavily: "Don't worry, general, I understand, force Ai Mu out."

He remembered the night when Lu Cheng was killed in battle at Yanshui Pass, originally Lu Cheng would not die, but in order to prevent the soldiers under his command from breaking up and lighting flags as lamps, he was bombarded several times, resulting in his death from being stabbed by wood chips.

The battlefield in the east of the city was in chaos.

Only four hundred of the thousand officers and soldiers crossed the second trench, and the rest of the officers and troops were crowded on the west side of the trench. Several people fell into the trench and were stabbed to death and wounded.

It took them a long time to regroup and find the earthen bridge that the former army had filled in the ditch, but after crossing two ditches, the environment was different.

There were wailing soldiers everywhere. After the second trench, wood thorns and thorns were scattered all over the ground, and some thorns were even mixed with it.

The most irritating thing is that these barbed thorns came from the luggage in the north and south outside the post city, but now they are used to prick their own people.

Although they boosted their morale over and over again before breaking out, is it true that a barbed thorn will cripple a person at any time in the dark night?
The soldiers behind advanced on the west side of the trench, but the soldiers in front were crowded on the east side of the trench and dared not move forward.

The entire breakout team was divided into three sections.

But the battle of Gao Xianbu was not easy.

His people are too few.

The front team that first entered the battlefield was only about [-] people. After firing a cannonball, the cavalry that attracted the officers and soldiers to break through made a surprise attack from the flanks, dividing the team into several sections.

Afterwards, as soon as the several government infantry teams that broke through the encirclement rushed, they were beaten so badly that they dared not defend anymore.

Fortunately, they still have the two insurances of Shi and Zhan Fubing under the formation of the brigade. After the division, the squad can still maintain a little organization and retreat to the camp.

The defense was immediately taken over by the middle and rear teams led by Gao Xian, relying on the fortifications of the camp to continue to block the army's breakout troops.

The battle here is much easier, because there is a bonfire outside the camp, at least there is some light, and people will not be so afraid in their hearts.

However, the low visibility still created opportunities for the officers and soldiers to appear and disappear. They rode in a group, rushing out from the left for a while, rushing out from the right for a while, and a while before and after, which brought great damage to the soldiers of the Gaoxian Department. pressure.

Gao Xian's division into five teams also played a role. The left and right teams stayed away from the battlefield and outflanked from the flanks.

They knew where there were barbed wire and where there were no terriers on the battlefield. They quickly passed through the gaps in the defense, moved to the north and south sides of the second trench, and gathered in the middle, trying to cut off the enemy from the middle.

But they didn't expect the scale of the officers and soldiers to be frightened by the barbed wire.

The two teams couldn't see clearly in the dark night, one from the south and the other from the north saw a few officers and soldiers from a distance, so they pressed and attacked with a double-team force.

When we got closer, we found hundreds of people blocked on both sides of the trench. It was too late to retreat, so we had to bite the bullet and fight up.

In the dark, people did not dare to disperse their lines and fought very restrainedly, but they were especially fierce in close combat. Sometimes they would call and curse each other in Guanzhong dialect and Shanbei dialect, and sometimes they would distinguish the enemy from the light of the knife.

Most of the time, people are very silent, and when they hear different accents beside them, they raise their knives and stab them.

Soon, Feng Ru's troops crossed the dry bed of the Wen'anyi River, arrived at the battlefield from the gap between the two trenches, and joined the melee.

Immediately, the voice of Feng Fu's subordinates sounded on the battlefield: "Ai Mu is dead, and those who surrender will not be killed!"

Shouts came and went on the battlefield, not only from the auxiliary soldiers of the Lion Battalion, but also from some Guanzhong soldiers.

The officers and soldiers who were still trapped behind a trench for a while began to retreat to the post city, and the officers and soldiers between the two trenches put down their weapons and surrendered in large areas.

The artillery on Wen'an Post City also rang at this time.

They were shooting at Feng's body, small-caliber solid bullets and scatter bullets skimmed in the air, pouring iron on every inch of land between the trenches.

Then Cao Yao's Hongyi Pao, which had been waiting for a long time in the south of the city, also rang, not only the Hongyi Pao, but also the General Pao and Frangji.

During the seven days of the siege, the artillery of both sides had never fired at full force like tonight.

The southeast corner of the post city was broken when the artillery fired the third volley, and the whole collapsed.

The four artillery placed in the southeast also misfired.

Wang Wenxiu immediately led his troops across the river and pressed straight to the south gate, cutting off the retreat of the officers and soldiers who wanted to escape back to the city. Cao Yao's musketeers also pressed up and shot at the defenders on the city under the protection of sword and shield hands.

Seeing that the way of retreat was cut off, and there was no follow-up support from the officers and soldiers, the cavalry soldiers who broke through the Gaoxian line no longer loved to fight, and broke through to the east one after another.

The infantry left behind by the horsemen and generals were still in a hard fight, and could only see more and more enemy troops raising torches around them, surrounding them.

Liu Chengzong sat on the stone of the Chinese army's earthen mountain, looking out at the battlefield. He had never heard so many screams hitting his ears.

Soon, a number of horse infantry who came to report the news gathered under the earth mountain and reported the results of the various ministries.

"The artillery post and the rear post are fighting the enemy. There are at least [-] defenders in the city. Please use the ladder."

Two aerial ladders were sent to the battlefield, and immediately Wang Wenxiu's troops began to attack Yicheng.

"General, dozens of cavalry broke through from the east of the city, and the rest of the officers and soldiers have put down their weapons and surrendered." Gao Xian's cavalry reported with shame: "The chief sentry said that the enemy general is among the cavalry."

Emu ran away?

Liu Chengzong took a deep breath: "Go and tell Chief Gao, Ai Mu can't escape, and Chief Yang is already cutting off their retreat."

Feng Ru's soldiers came over beaming: "General, the enemy has captured all the prisoners in the middle of the second ditch, and they are counting the casualties and prisoners."

The two trenches and the caltrops of the officers and soldiers made the night breakout a disaster.

Liu Chengzong held a bunch of barbed wire and looked at it again and again, shook his head and said to the left and right: "This thing is really precious."

He couldn't imagine what the battle would be like if his troops came one day late.

In the official army's luggage, this strange thing with four cast iron thorns welded together and a small hole in the middle is threaded into a string with a rope, and thrown underground is a line of defense.

He didn't even need to look with his eyes to know that most of the wailing on the battlefield was created by this thing.

Wang Wenxiu quickly climbed to the top of the city to set up a position, and then more and more rear sentinels climbed to the top of the city, occupied the city wall, and advanced further into the post city.

The battle outside the city is over.

Soon the casualties of each unit were counted, and Gao Xian's troops bore the brunt, suffering huge casualties of more than a hundred people.

Feng Fu's department was bombarded by artillery from the city's officials and troops, and 32 people were temporarily killed in battle, and more than a dozen were seriously injured, and they might not be able to be rescued.

However, only five of Feng Lu's troops were killed in the battle, and most of the others were slightly injured. Immediately afterward, manpower was assigned to guard the prisoners, and then they led people into the city to further wipe out the enemy army.

The soldiers counted the dead bodies and finally gathered them to the Chinese army. One hundred and two people were killed in the Lion Camp and 97 were seriously injured in the breakout battle.

The corpses of the officers and soldiers were also counted, and only 130 died.

But too many officers and soldiers were injured. Of the [-] officers and soldiers who lost their combat effectiveness, more than [-] of them stepped on barbed wire during the breakout process.

Liu Chengzong ordered his subordinates to take back all the barbed wire. These things are specially packed in two carts and will be used in the future.

In the early morning, when the sky was dark, there were still occasional screams in the post city.

Yang Yao followed the morning dew and led his troops back, brought back a dead body, clasped his fists and said: "General, Ai Mu still ran away, after the death, the general died in the battle, it was his son Ai Huaiguang."

Liu Chengzong lifted the flag covering the corpse, closed the young man's round eyes, and nodded slowly.

"He is Daming's hope, so bury him properly."

　Yesterday morning, my cervical spine caused a headache, so I couldn’t take it anymore after typing a line. My whole forehead hurt so much that I couldn’t think, so I put plaster on and lay on my side until midnight, so I didn’t post Chapter 2, sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)