At the north and south gates of Taigu City, the flames are in the clouds. The north and south markets in Hedong, which are famous for their prosperity outside Taigu County, were all caught in flames, and the sky was filled with blood.

And in the darkness where the fireworks are not as good as the fireworks, there are thousands of Liao soldiers lurking.

Xiao 13 was not in the camp or nearby, before the battle began, he had quietly sneaked to the city wall with a small group of personal soldiers. He wanted to witness with his own eyes the scene where his sons attacked the city of Taigu County until Han Gang was captured in front of him.

However, the development of the battle situation surprised him, and the Song people did not attract all the attention of the first two attacks in the north and south, and when the rest of the troops in the battle had just sneaked into the city, they were immediately attacked from the city.

"The southern barbarians in the city have found out?!"

"The arrows are so urgent!"

There was a trace of panic among the generals and staff accompanying Xiao Shisan, and anyone who saw the originally dark city was illuminated by the firelight in the blink of an eye, they would feel a palpitation. Aren't the thousands of elites all rats running to the sun, rabbits in front of horses - killing themselves?

"There is a saying among the southerners that a shower does not end and cannot last." Xiao Shisan was not flustered, and his calm and relaxed demeanor made many people ashamed.

But half an hour later, the strings were still ringing.

A quarter of an hour later, there was no stop.

After two quarters of an hour, the strings finally slowed down a little, but also became more rhythmic. It was even weird, and after a long pause, it suddenly became violent and violent in an instant.

Xiao Shisan's face changed, as long as he was familiar with the battle formation, he could hear the traces of the trap from it.

"How many Song troops are there in the city?!"

"Who sent the horses?!"

More than one person shouted in a rage, and the density of arrows was definitely not something that three or five thousand people could do. Under such a rain of arrows, many people don't even dare to think about how many casualties the attacking sons and daughters were.

"The Song people must have requisitioned all the civilians."

"Impossible, how could ordinary people get into the role so quickly? If this is the case, who would dare to provoke the population of the Southern Dynasty?! ”

The soldiers are not expensive, and many of the militia and villagers will have weak legs when they are in battle, and no matter how much they are, they will not be of great use! But just listening to the rapid but steady sound of strings, how could it be possible for ordinary people to do it.

Xiao Shisan's hands were clenched into fists, and his eyes shone with determination.

He also has a real elite in his hands, which he intends to rely on to break the city. About 2,000 elite soldiers, the main force wearing heavy armor and holding hard crossbows, fired at the head of the city, and there were people in front of them with shields to resist the armor-piercing heavy crossbows. When they reached the bottom of the city, the unarmored warriors who accompanied them could go up the ladder and capture a section of the city wall as quickly as possible.

In Xiao Shisan's initial plan, when the first group of siege teams found out the weaknesses in the Song army's city defense, the second group of siege troops would immediately enter it, not giving the Song people a chance to breathe.

He trusts his own people, and he is sure of his own judgment. The Song army's dense shooting like a storm cannot last, and the soldiers' physical strength will be exhausted sooner or later, as long as a group of fresh troops are invested at the right time, they can capture Taigu and capture Hangang!

At night, everything was blurred.

The walls of the city will never be invisible, but at the head of the city, it is impossible to distinguish which of the soldiers under the city is more elite.

As long as someone cooperates, it is difficult for the Song people to distinguish the direction of the main attack, and they will not understand until the last moment when the elite soldiers arrive in the city.

People, have already set off. Xiao Shisan waited quietly.

It may have been discovered that a new group of siege troops was coming, and the strings of arrows in the city were rushing again.

Xiao 13 had been chasing his most trusted sons with clairvoyant mirrors, even though they were just a wriggling black shadow in the night, he could clearly see that they were steadily approaching the city wall.

'Arrows don't always work!' Xiao Shisan thought happily, and looked forward to it even more enthusiastically.

It's just that there was a sudden bang, as if something heavy was falling in the distance, coming with the wind, and it was not loud, but it made Xiao Shisan panic for a while.

That's the sound of a bed crossbow!

At least a bed crossbow with two bows in one.

The test firing of bed crossbows in Daizhou and several military villages, Xiao 13 and his generals have seen it. Even if there was no Xiao Dalin, who died in Lanzhou in the old year, the power of the Song Army's treasure made their hearts tremble.

The more than 30 large and small bed crossbows and iron arrows shaped like spears were divided among the various departments. But it also made Xiao Shisan and the others firmly remember the sound of the bed crossbow being fired.

There was one sound after another, and it brought a note of stress in Xiao Thirteen's chest.

Why did the Song army's most terrifying weapon be put into use at this time?!

It's a no-brainer.

I can't come back. ’

Xiao Thirteen sighed.

……………………

Like a stone falling into the water, the crossbow strings of the bed sounded from time to time. Every time it sounded, many times, it was one or several elite soldiers of the Liao State who were skewered into meat skewers.

Han Gang had people hastily build the enemy platform before, but it was just a simple building built with wood, straw, felt and mud. Originally, it was intended to place the winding machine in the enemy platform on the horse's surface, but after calculation, in order to ensure a sufficient rate of fire, the number of people who could wind the bow of the god arm must be equivalent to twice that of the archers, so that the space of the enemy platform would be too small.

However, for the bed crossbow, the space on the enemy platform is not small, enough to put the largest eight-ox crossbow - the size of the bed crossbow is supposed to match the thickness of the city wall - relying on the craftsmen in the city, using wooden bars and wooden wheels, it took a day of work to create a bed crossbow base that can rotate and shoot on the track. Although it can't be used for a long time, it can last three to five days.

In this way, the bed crossbow can easily attack enemies near the walls, rather than just targeting enemies at a distance. This also brought Taigu City's defense to a new level.

The magistrate of Taigu smiled and praised: "The privy council came to Taigu for only a few days, and the county seat was built into a Jincheng soup pool. With this city, what if there are 100,000 more thieves? ”

Han Gang shook his head, "It's a little worse than the Ten Thousand Cities of Zhitong." ”

When Han Gang was about to leave Shaanxi in the old year, he went to visit the Tongwan City built by Helian Bobo. The ancient city standing on the Wuding River, although it was destroyed by Emperor Taizong, can still see the thousands of weather that dominate all countries from the remnants.

The reason why Tongwan City is known as impregnable and the first city in the Wuding River Valley for hundreds of years made Zhao Guangyi regard it as another Taiyuan and simply destroyed it is not only because the iron cone was used to pierce the wall to test the hardness of the city wall when it was built - the iron cone will kill the craftsmen if it enters the wall for an inch, and the soldiers on the cone wall will be killed if it enters the wall less than an inch—but because the structure of the city wall is reasonably arranged.

The horse faces of the walls of Tongwan City are dense and protruding outwards from the walls, and the enemy forces attacking the city will be projected by two horse faces at the same time, and the adjacent horse faces can be supported by attacking the horse faces. Such an arrangement, even if the city wall is not high or thick, it can also make the city defense impregnable, not to mention that the remnants of the city wall alone have five zhang, the highest point is even eight or nine zhang, and the thickness is also seven or eight zhang, which is not inferior to Tokyo City.

The layout of Taigu County, Han Gang has learned from Tongwan City in a few places, and he also thought that if Taigu County's urban defense could be as high as one-tenth of Tongwan City.

It's just that most people in this era have limited knowledge, and many officials don't know where and which Tongwan City Han Gang is talking about. However, it does not prevent them from flattering Han Gang's 'modesty' with flattering smiles.

Han Gang got tired of hearing this, and waved his hand to stop them.

Tonight can be considered in the past.

The night battle was fruitless, presumably Xiao 13 would not be stupid enough to continue to bang his head against the wall. But Han Gang wouldn't say that, and no one could guarantee that there would be no accidents. You have to be even more careful.

"The order goes down. Let all the departments of the four walls strengthen their defense, and there must be no slackening in the slightest. Before dawn, people sleep in their minds, it is a dangerous time, don't work hard all night, the most difficult thing is to fall short! ”

Han Gang's order shocked everyone, and they hurriedly agreed. Several generals also rushed to the four walls of the city separately to inspect and urge the defenders not to slack off.

But Han Gang's tone softened slightly, and he looked around: "But if you can't get to the city tonight, then it will be difficult for the Liao thieves to organize a second attack tomorrow." ”

Everyone in the staff nodded, as did the civilian and military attaches below who had participated in the military discussions.

In the previous establishment of the envoys, various possibilities for the development of the battle situation have been deduced. If they can't capture Taigu City smoothly and defeat neatly, then the Liao people will never be stupid enough to hit their heads on the stone again, and they will definitely wake up and understand how bad their siege level is! - It is by no means possible to become arrogant by relying on the luck of time to get military fortresses such as Daizhou and Shiling.

Next, the Liao either retreated to the north, or simply went south to attack the reinforcements from the north. If Xiao Shisan's confidence does not fall and he can control his soldiers, it will most likely be the latter-he will definitely be unwilling to attack the city one after another.

As long as the Liao people can eliminate the reinforcements from the north, so that the Song army in Hedong loses the ability to fight in the field, even Han Gang will have no power to return to heaven. The Liao army could only be allowed to plunder Hedong.

However, Han Gang's previous series of orders and let Zhang Ji command the whole army were all in order to protect themselves in the battle with the Liao. In such a situation, if the exhausted Liao army can be dragged down, the result will only be better.

Of course, it was also an option to go back and rebuild siege equipment in the hope of making a comeback. But in that case, it will take at least ten days or more. In this case, it will make Han Gang satisfied.

From Han Gang's point of view, he most hoped that the Liao army could stay in Taigu County for a while, so that it would not be a fantasy to completely annihilate Xiao's thirteen subordinates. Although Hedong lost his teachers and humiliated the country all the way and suffered a big loss, the core strength of the Great Song Dynasty did not suffer much damage, and he had not even mobilized the real strength.

Once the main force of Xijing Province of the Liao State was completely annihilated, if there was the support of the imperial court, Han Gang would even dare to attack Datong directly and approach Fengshengzhou [Zhangjiakou]. That was a golden opportunity to defeat the Liao State. I don't know if Lu Dao can get this opportunity.