Although the long-range fierce bombardment lasted less than half an hour, the intensity of the bombardment was already staggering. The smoke and dust on the top of the city obscured the sky and the sun, and the night breeze spread across the sky, obscuring a bright moon in the sky. This was originally the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it was supposed to be the time for Mochizuki to reunite his family, but inside and outside Yingtianfu, it was a bloody night of killing.

In only half an hour, thousands of people were killed and wounded at the head of the city. There were also casualties among the officers and soldiers under the city, and the damage caused by the attack on the catapult by the bed crossbow spread to the surrounding operators, dozens of officers and soldiers were killed by the collapsed catapult, and more than 100 others were injured.

But all this is only the prelude to this great war. The people of the city will not be complacent about the results of the battle, and the people of the city will not be annoyed and frightened by these casualties, because they know that the real war has not yet begun. Everything before is just a small foreplay, and the real big drama is the hand-to-hand siege that follows, which is the key to success or failure.

The catapult bombardment was over, but the rumbling drums of war were beating. The 10,000 forbidden troops spread out in formation, like a flood that bursts the embankment, rushing towards the city.

Although the siege was not effective, it cannot be denied Guo Xu's leading talent, and his personal experience of military career and a large number of readings of ancient warfare and the art of war made Guo Xu initially have the ability to command soldiers and horses. Even when Guo Mian seized the opportunity and urgently needed to capture Yingtian at this moment, Guo Xu still kept a clear head, he did not order all the soldiers and horses to pour out, but divided the 30,000 siege troops into three echelons.

Each of these three echelons is 10,000 people, and they are arranged in a straggler formation. In terms of the structure of the troops, Guo Xu also made arrangements. The first wave of 10,000 troops consisted mainly of sword and shield soldiers and archers, mixed with 2,000 siege death squads responsible for towing thirty cranes. The sword and shield soldiers erected large shields in front of them to resist the inevitable surging bow and arrow attacks at the head of the city, covering the 4,000 archers to within sixty paces of the city, so that the archers could shoot arrows at the head of the city to suppress it. With the archers in their cover, the chariot can approach the walls and begin a siege. The Sword and Shield Soldiers, on the other hand, will become the main attack force that will ascend the city from the Vapor Chariot after the Vapor Cart's passage to the city.

This is a 10,000-strong team that cooperates with each other, covering each other, covering each other. Guo Xu has achieved the basic leadership routine of collaborating with each other, and he is much more clever than many generals who only know how to attack wildly.

As for the second echelon in the rear, they launched a more rapid second wave of attacks after the front team launched the siege. The second echelon is basically the main siege army equipped only with blades and simple ladders. Once the first echelon and the soldiers and horses at the head of the city formed an anxious momentum, there was no way to stop the arrival of the traditional ladder siege troops. As long as hundreds of ladders hang on the edge of the city wall, it is a nightmare for the defenders at the head of the city.

The third echelon is the new force, when there are too many soldiers and horses, the siege is exhausted, and the number of people is insufficient, they can fill the gap and maintain the intensity of the siege.

In fact, there are still nearly 9,000 soldiers and horses of the Chinese army in the rear, which are personally commanded by Guo Xu. Since Guo Xu has given the order to fight to the death of one soldier and one soldier, if the battle ahead is not effective, Guo Xu will personally lead these 9,000 soldiers and horses to launch the final attack. Of course, if it comes to that point, Guo Xu has actually failed. After exhausting the army of 50,000, even if Ying Tianfu is taken, it will be a defeat.

In short, Guo Xu is now betting on everything in his hands, he must win Yingtian, even if it is a miserable victory, it is much better than returning home. He had no other choice.

To the sound of rumbling drums, the forbidden army holding high the big shield approached within a hundred paces. They appeared like a group of ghosts in the sight of the defenders of the city. There was no shouting and charging, no running and killing, they just held their shields to protect their bodies, covering the archers who were cowering behind their shields and advancing towards the city step by step.

In addition to them, a series of chariots several feet high also rolled in under the drag of horses and the push of soldiers. The huge wooden wheel, which is more than one person high, makes a screeching sound of grinding when it turns, which makes people sick and sick. The Roller Coaster was the most threatening siege equipment in the siege battle a few days ago, although dozens of them were burned, but the more than 30 Roller Cranes in front of them were slowly approaching like a huge tower, which still made the defenders at the head of the city feel a great sense of oppression.

In fact, what the defenders of the city head did not know was that these thirty cloud caravans had been modified, and they were no longer limited to the use of siege passages leading to the city head, and a fence more than one person high had been installed on their tops, and a square space was enclosed with a fence made of iron sheets. In this space, more than a dozen repeater shooters were already in place. In this way, the cloud car has actually become a moving arrow tower.

The reason for this is not only the need for the firepower reinforcement of these hundreds of repeater shooters, but also the fact that there is nothing to turn the tide of the battle in the entire siege operation. Their main purpose is actually to make the Arc Carriage have the ability to defend, a dozen crossbowmen can effectively control the Arcane Wheel close to a small section of the city wall behind the city wall, and can cover the forbidden army in the Arc Carriage to climb the city wall through the drawbridge with as little interference as possible. At the same time, having learned the lessons of the previous days of siege, the enemy will use fire to deal with the Vapor Car, and throw it into the fire oil bottle to burn the Arc Car. Therefore, having a crossbowman at the top is a way to prevent the defenders from doing this, and it can be regarded as a remedy.

Hai Dongqing stood on the side of the city tower that was still partially intact, his face cold. In his opinion, the other party's approach of stepping on the drum for a long time is indifference and disrespect for himself. He was not intimidated by this formation, only measured the distance, and slowly raised the long knife in his hand.

The other party had already approached within ninety steps, and had already entered the range of the bow and arrow, and finally, in the expectation of all the Qingjiao disciples who were defending the city, the long knife in Hai Dongqing's hand slashed forward with an arc-shaped cold light.

"Shoot the arrows!" Song Mo let out a hoarse roar. His voice fell, and countless heads of people popped up from the city

Come, tens of thousands of bows and arrows pulled the bowstring, but listen to the sound of 'bouncing, buzzing' bowstrings. Thousands of arrows erupted into a black smoke that swept towards the crowd of forbidden troops below the city.

"Sneer! Puff puff! The arrows pierced the short distance of dozens of steps with the sound of the wind, fiercely piercing into the flesh and blood bodies, and bursting out of brilliant blood flowers.

"Tuk-tuk." More arrows were fired at the shields in the hands of the forbidden soldiers, and the powerful force of the arrows would make the soldiers holding the shields sit on the ground. The shields in the hands of many soldiers were still empty one moment, but the next moment they were nailed with more than a dozen powerful arrows, as if they were holding a hedgehog in their hands. The shields are all wooden, some of them are damaged, and they will burst open even after being hit by powerful arrows.

Ding Ding Ding! There was a burst of beans, and the tall body of the cloud car was shot by a dense rain of arrows. However, the outer skin of the cloud car is covered with iron sheets, and the arrows cannot destroy the structure. But all the cattle and horses pulling the chariot ahead were shot.

Buzz! A second round of arrows was fired immediately afterward, this time causing more damage and damage. The soldiers of the forbidden army below turned on their backs, killing and wounding countless people. The arrows that were fired raised smoke and dust on the ground, like flowers bursting through countless dust on the ground. In a strip about twenty or thirty paces wide at a distance of ninety paces from the city, a jungle of feathered arrows appeared on the flat ground. It was densely packed, full of arrows stuck in the ground and dead bodies.

Even with shields and armor, the number of casualties among officers and soldiers was still extremely staggering and rising under such a dense rain of arrows. Countless officers and soldiers fell from arrows, and muffled snorts and screams resounded across the battlefield. One by one, the soldiers held their shields in front of them, and shrunk behind them, like birds trembling in a storm, hoping that the small shield in front of them would protect them from the wind and rain. After the cattle and horses were shot, dozens of cloud chariots also came to an abrupt halt and stopped eighty paces from the city.

In the face of such a fierce resistance from the defenders, even Guo Xu and others in the rear were surprised. In the past few days of siege of the city, although it has long been known that the bandits have a large number of weapons and bows and arrows in their hands, the scale of the bows and arrows at the head of the city today is still very unexpected. I am afraid that it would take a salvo of more than 10,000 bows and arrows to have such a terrible consequence. Before that, everyone's judgment was that the opponent's bow and arrow would not exceed five thousand. Who would have thought that such an unexpected situation would happen.

All this naturally benefited from Hai Dongqing's pre-war arrangement. Today's truce of one day, Hai Dongqing not only issued an order to replenish manpower, but also asked for a replenishment of war preparation materials. Bows and arrows are the most direct and effective thing to inflict a large number of casualties on the besieging officers and soldiers, so Hai Dongqing personally led people to collect them in the city. The bows and arrows hidden in the people's homes were naturally all confiscated, and in addition, Hai Dongqing also learned from Qian Dezhang that there were a large number of scrapped bows and arrows in the Yingtianfu armory. These bows and arrows have been discarded, because the bows themselves are not of high value, so there is no value for recycling, so they have been piled up in the warehouse for many years and no one cares.

Hai Dongqing led people to move out these discarded bows and arrows, and picked out all the available accessories. Three or four broken bows and arrows can be put together to become a good bow and arrow that can be used, so that there are thousands of more bows and crossbows available. Hai Dongqing thought very clearly, these bows and arrows do not need to be durable, even if they can only shoot two or three arrows before they are broken and abandoned, it is worth spending time to repair, even if one more arrow is shot at the city, it will contribute to the defense of the city and increase a point of hope.

Because of this, four or five thousand bows and arrows have suddenly increased to the head of the city today, and there are all kinds of them. There are simple longbows made by the common people, and exquisite bows and arrows collected by rich and noble families, some longbows, some short bows, some delicate, some crude. Some are sturdy, while others can even break at any time. It was these various arrows that were cobbled together that caused great shock and damage in the first wave of blows to the officers and soldiers.

Seeing the officers and soldiers besieging the city on their backs, they were killed and wounded one by one, and even shrunk behind their shields and shivered, which was very different from the previous offensive posture of stepping on the drum for a long time. The bandits at the head of the city let out a strange scream.

"The Holy Father is the greatest, and the world is invincible. All the demons and the outer realms must die. If you dare to attack us, you will kill yourself. ”

Hai Dongqing stroked his beard and smiled silently, he knew that there was a glimmer of hope for defending the city today. After such a ferocious attack, the number of casualties on the other side may reach 20%, do they still dare to attack? As long as they retreat, today's siege battle will be cut in half. Retreating before touching the walls was an almost fatal blow to morale. And on their own side, the morale will be high, and Ying Tianfu will be impregnable.

However, something surprising happened to him. In the interval between the two rounds of arrow rain, the trumpet guns in the rear phalanx of officers and men rang out repeatedly, and the drums became more violent. A hundred paces away, thousands of cavalry galloped out, and these guys seemed to be shirtless, holding ghost-headed broadswords in their hands. Neither forward, nor backward, just standing in a row at the rear of the battlefield. Hai Dongqing instantly understood: it was the Warlord's team. Seeing that the soldiers and horses in front of him were about to be defeated, the commander of the officers and soldiers sacrificed the supervision team to supervise the battle in the rear.

The appearance of the Warlords had an immediate effect. All officers and soldiers know that the Forbidden Army Inspectors are a group of executioners, who do not kill the enemy in the army, but only their own people. All those who retreated from the battlefield, they were all killed without the slightest emotion. At this moment, if you retreat, you will die, and there is only one way to storm the city. If the left and right are dead, they will be killed by the Overseer and have a bad reputation after death, which will involve their families. If you die in a siege battle, you can at least get a compassionate pension and a good reputation for sacrificing your life for the country.

"Attack!" The leading general stood up from under his shield and charged with his sword raised

shouted loudly in the direction of the city.

One by one, the figures hiding behind their shields stood up and began to continue their advance towards the city walls. Dozens of soldiers acted as mules and horses, pulling the chariot forward and advancing towards the city walls. The sound of the wooden wheels turning sounded again, and the beat of the drums accompanied the footsteps of the soldiers. Knock knock, knock knock, as if knocking on everyone's hearts, resounding throughout the heavens and the earth.

Countless ant-like figures are the epitome of humble creatures at this moment, and throughout the ages, countless such figures have rushed to death on various battlefields, and they have no choice, nor can they get rid of such a fate. Although it is sad and lamentable, no one can deny that the whole course of history is paved with the blood of the death of these humble people, not those high-ranking officials and royal nobles who drive others to death.

"Shoot me the arrows!" Song Mo yelled.

"Whoosh! Buzz! Woooooo A rain of arrows poured down on the crowd. Flesh and blood flew and screamed in the sky. One life after another died in the rain of arrows, leaving behind blood-stained husks. Almost all of them had their shields like porcupines with thorns, nailed with arrows. Death is no longer something to be afraid of, and what is even more frightening is not knowing if you will die in the next moment. This kind of unknown is the most terrifying.

In just a few dozen breaths, the bandits at the head of the city shot three rounds of arrows in a row, and the number of dead and wounded officers and soldiers under the city has exceeded 30%. In just a few dozen paces of advance, the 10,000 siege vanguards have already suffered more than 3,500 casualties.

But the counterattack of the officers and soldiers has finally begun.

In dozens of breaths, the besieging officers and soldiers had advanced to within sixty paces of the city. In this position, the archers of the Forbidden Army can already shoot arrows at the head of the city. The more than 3,000 remaining archers, trained to deliver arrows to the walls, began to bend their bows and arrows. They also knew how to ensure the lethality of the enemy troops on the city wall, and instead of blindly shooting everywhere, they concentrated their shots, allowing a large amount of arrows to rain down a local area of the city wall.

"Buzz." Like the sound of a wasp's wings vibrating, the sound of a good bow and arrow firing an arrow is not harsh at all, but full of a low, threatening hum. The resonance of agitating the surrounding air is even more like a thunderous reverberation.

A black cloud enveloped the area thirty paces to the left of the tower. There is a large number of dense defenders of the city concentrated here. Because the castle tower is a key defensive position, a large number of people must be gathered on both sides to defend. Almost in the blink of an eye, the more than 400 bandits and the people who were forced to go to the city within the 30-step city wall were doused by the rain of arrows before they could react. After the rain of arrows, the place was full of corpses, and it was emptied in an instant. Also affected were the bandits and civilians who were carrying supplies behind the city walls. Some of the arrows fell over the walls, killing seventy or eighty of them.

In addition to the Forbidden Army archers starting to shoot, the crossbowmen at the top of the thirty Skycarts also came within striking distance. They hid in the tin fence and began to shoot at the walls from a narrow firing hole. They were positioned a few feet higher than the city walls, and their condescending crossbow fire made it difficult for the dense defenders on the walls to dodge. In the midst of the screams, a large number of bandits on the city wall were shot, which also interfered with the bandits' suppression of the bows and arrows of the forbidden army under the city. For a time, there was chaos on the city walls.

"Tuk-tuk." A series of bean-like sounds sounded, and on the pillars at the front of the tower, a row of crossbow arrows were continuously nailed to it, and the wood chips scattered and flew in all directions, filling the air with smoke and dust.

"Holy Father, be careful." Several Dharma protectors shouted.

Hai Dongqing staggered to the ground, fortunately he was still a little alert, and when the first crossbow arrow hit the wooden fence next to him, he jumped to the side, so that he was not shot by the next dozen crossbow arrows. But it happened in a hurry, and his feet were not very dexterous, and he sat on the ground all at once.

Song Mo and the others hurriedly stepped forward to help, and shouted in panic: "Is the Holy Father okay?" I didn't hurt it. ”

Hai Dongqing's hat fell, revealing a gray and messy bun, and his face was covered with dust, looking really embarrassed. He was a little annoyed and angry, he was a holy father, but he had divine power to protect his body, so he shouldn't be so embarrassed by a few crossbow arrows. The best result was that he stood still, and the crossbow arrow slashed through his side and nailed to the pillar, which showed that he was fearless, and his magic skills protected his body, and the sword and arrow also took the initiative to avoid the miracle of his body. It's a pity that all this can only be imagined, and he can't take this risk.

"What's the panic? I'm just distracted, just instinctively dodging, in fact, even if the crossbow arrow hits my body, how can it hurt me? Hai Dongqing shouted.

Several Dharma Protectors were silent, and said in their hearts: It's all like this, why bother to die? Are we really stupid?

Hai Dongqing put on his hat again and looked at the situation under the city. Because of the opponent's counterattack, the suppressive power of the city head is no longer enough. The besiegers had reached within thirty paces. The shuttlecock only needs to be two feet away to take the long suspension bridge up to the top of the city, and that is the beginning of hand-to-hand combat. In the distance, behind the battlefield, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses of the second echelon of officers and soldiers had already begun to advance. As soon as hand-to-hand combat began, officers and men in the rear would charge, dragging the battle into brutal close combat.

"Passing on the order of the deity, everyone is ready for hand-to-hand combat. All the supplies were prepared, and not a single officer or soldier was allowed to climb the walls alive. Hai Dongqing shouted coldly.

"Yes!" Song Mo and the others responded in unison, and the order was quickly conveyed to every corner of the city wall. All the bandits began to pick up the stones and lift the logs. The hot oil pan was also lifted to the wall. The oil bottle that was ready to burn the cloud car was also in his hand. Everyone was nervously waiting for an even more tragic moment to come.

。 Nine Heavenly God Emperors