Outside Xuanyuan Pass, the fighting continued.

After clearing the sand at the city gate again, after repelling the attack of Yuan's army. On the earth, I remembered the sound of 'woo'.

Watching Yuan Jun slowly retreat, even if he was as brave as Zhao Yun and as tough as he was trapped in the camp, he was also relieved.

For three consecutive days, Yuan Jun repeated one thing every day, that is, to transport sand and soil outside Xuanyuan Pass.

Wen Zhao naturally would not be indifferent, and he waited for the sand to accumulate to a certain height every time before opening the city to fight.

In the three-day high-intensity offensive and defensive battle, the Chen army, which lost the city wall, even though it relied on the convenience of the narrow terrain, killed and injured several times the Yuan army.

However, Yuan Shujun relied on the numerical advantage and did not give Chen Jun a chance to breathe. Wave after wave, fearless of death.

As the saying goes: kill 1,000 enemies, and lose 800 yourself.

In the past three days, more than 8,000 of the 30,000 foot soldiers under Wen Zhao's command have been killed in battle, and countless people have been wounded. Now those who can maintain their combat effectiveness, in addition to the 9,000 cavalry, are only 15,000 foot soldiers.

Even the trapped camp under Gao Shun's command lost more than 500 people. Since the formation of the army in the trapping camp, such losses have simply never been seen.

It's not that the trapping camp isn't elite enough, it's because they're too powerful. Therefore, in order to preserve their strength as much as possible, except for rest time, Wen Zhao always let them stick to the front line.

Otherwise, after three consecutive days of fighting, the Chen army would not have only killed 8,000 foot soldiers.

It must be known that during this time, the number of soldiers killed in Yuan's army has exceeded 80,000. Yuan Shu's capable warriors are also less than 200,000.

The comparison between friend and foe, ten to one casualties, this result is simply a bit appalling. You know, this is not a battle to defend the city, but a real confrontation between the two armies.

Although this kind of confrontation between the two armies was in a small space, it was greatly disadvantageous to the Yuan army, which had the advantage in numbers.

However, it was better for Yuan's army to confront Chen's army in such a situation than to inflict huge casualties in siege battles.

It can be said that if it weren't for the well-armored trapping camp, it would not move like a mountain. The casualties of Wen Zhao's corporal will definitely double again.

It is also possible that Xuanyuan Pass will not be able to support it today.

After returning to the city, Gao Shun, who was covered in blood, said with a sad face: "Lord, you can't go on like this. ”

"After three days of high-intensity fighting, more than half of the casualties in the trapped camp have been killed, and there are less than 800 capable fighters."

"Rao is like this, they are also physically and mentally exhausted now, and there is no way to continue to resist the attack of Yuan's army."

Every soldier in the trapping camp was brought out by Gao Shun, and he was like brothers with them. More than 500 were killed and more than 300 were wounded. This kind of price simply makes Gao Shun a little unbearable.

Even those soldiers who died in the camp killed more than a dozen Yuan soldiers each. But there is no way to make up for the pain in Gao Shun's heart.

At this time, Gao Shun also discovered the weakness of the trapped camp, that is, the ability to fight for a long time.

In the past, every time the trapped camp made a contribution, there would not be too many enemy troops. Therefore, they can rely on their strong offensive and defensive capabilities to annihilate the enemy army with few casualties.

However, in the face of the overwhelming Yuan army, the soldiers of the trapping camp wearing heavy armor. They kept fighting, and finally when they ran out of strength.

Most of the casualties among the soldiers in the trapping camp also occurred at that time.

Although Wen Zhao has always paid attention to letting the trapped camp rest, there will be some trapped soldiers who die every time. It took a long time to accumulate before the trapped camp suffered a heavy blow.

You must know that there were originally only 1,500 soldiers in the trapping camp, even though there were only about a dozen casualties in each battle. But in the face of the overwhelming Yuan army, which is constantly attacking, the trapped camp will be consumed sooner or later.

Wen Zhao's face sank like water, looked at Jia Xu and Tian Feng, and said in a hoarse voice: "Do the two military advisors have a good strategy to break the enemy?" ”

Jia Xu and Tian Feng glanced at each other, and they both saw helplessness in each other's eyes.

If you are faced with intrigue and trickery, with the wisdom of the two, you will not have the slightest fear.

However, the strategy used by Yan Xiang was a conspiracy, and Yuan Shu spoke with absolute strength, showing his determination to fight a war of attrition.

If Chen's army did not go out of the city to meet the battle, Yuan's army would constantly transport sand and soil under the city walls. If they really sit back and watch them, when a slope is paved to the top of the city wall, I am afraid that the Xuanyuan Pass at that time will also be lost.

It is also unrealistic to use bows and arrows to force Yuan's army not to get close to the city wall. For there were simply not so many arrows in the city for the soldiers to consume.

Even though Tian Feng urged the people every day to help make arrows, it still seemed a drop in the bucket. Moreover, even the pig iron used to make arrowheads has been depleted.

For now, Wen Zhao could only try his best to stop Yuan's army and dump sand and stones under the city wall. Wait until the sand has accumulated to a certain extent, and then go out of the city to fight, and let the people clear the sand at the city gates.

In the face of such a conspiracy, even if Jia Xu and Tian Feng are full of wisdom, they are still a little helpless.

"Things like rocks and rolling logs, the Yuan army doesn't use cloud ladders to attack the city, and defending the city is not useful at all. Bows and arrows that can kill and injure the enemy, but because of the lack of arrows, they also become no threat to Yuan's army. ”

Thinking of this, Wen Zhao felt a headache.

At this time, he actually missed the time when he was a yellow turban thief. If you encounter a strong enemy, you can just run away if you can't beat it.

But there is no need to be like now, you can only defend the city and not give up an inch of land. Because behind Xuanyuan Pass, there is the territory of Sili.

If Xuanyuan Pass is lost, Henan Yin and Hanoi County will become unsafe. Luoyang, the eastern capital, will also be exposed to the Yuan army's troops.

"Whoa!"

The cold wind blew, and the battle flag on the city wall fluttered in the wind, and Wen Zhao also felt a little chill on his body.

He hadn't felt the slightest bit of it when he was on the battlefield. Now when I relaxed, I realized that the armor on my body had been soaked with blood.

Under the action of the cold air, the blood on the outside of the armor has frozen.

"Looks like I'm going to have to change my clothes again."

Feeling the blood-soaked underwear, there was no way to continue to keep warm, Wen Zhao felt a little helpless in his heart.

"Poof!"

Suddenly, a soldier standing on top of the city wall fell unconscious to the ground.

Seeing this, Wen Zhao hurriedly stepped forward to help him up, and shouted: "Find a military doctor quickly!" ”

Touching the cheek of the soldier who suddenly fell unconscious, Wen Zhao found that the temperature on his body was very high.

"Looks like he's got a fever."

A large group of people came around, Wen Zhao hugged the unconscious soldier, and suddenly felt a cold in his hands, and his face suddenly changed.

He touched the underwear worn by the soldier, only to find that the clothes were actually wet.

"Quartermaster, where is the quartermaster? Why did you let this soldier wear wet clothes to the battlefield? ”

Thinking that this soldier's illness was probably caused by wet clothes, Wen Zhao's face suddenly became extremely ugly.

It didn't take long for the medic and quartermaster to arrive.

After the military doctor finished the examination, he said: "My lord, this person must be wearing clothes that are not dry, which caused the cold to enter the body, the body temperature rose excessively, and he fell into a coma." ”

Wen Zhao hurriedly asked someone to carry the soldier down and change him into dry clothes.

Then, he put his unkind eyes on the quartermaster.

"Poof!"

The quartermaster's clothes were extremely thin, and he felt Wen Zhao's anger, so he immediately knelt on the ground and said, "My lord, it's not that the last general won't give the soldiers a change of dry clothes. ”

"But now there are no extra clothes in the treasury."

"Our army fought with Yuan's army every day, and there were a lot of clothes that were destroyed and soaked in blood."

"If it's freezing today, even if you can wash the clothes cleanly, there is no way to dry them in a short time."

"Not only the soldier, but also many people in the army went to the battlefield wearing clothes that were not dried."

After speaking, the quartermaster suddenly tore open his armor, revealing his underwear, and said, "The last general even contributed all his dry clothes and wore the wet clothes that the soldiers had changed. ”

Chen Xu was stunned when he heard this, stepped forward and touched it, and found that the quartermaster's underwear was really warm and damp.

He looked at the quartermaster, who was thinly dressed and trembling a little, and hurriedly took his hand and helped the quartermaster up.

At this time, Wen Zhao felt the quartermaster's hands, which were unusually cold. He could also feel that the quartermaster was not trembling because he was afraid. It's because of the cold that the body is uncontrollable.

His nose was sore, but Wen Zhaoqiang couldn't hold back and didn't let the tears flow.

He untied the cloak handed over by his men, draped it over the quartermaster, and said, "Why didn't you tell me about such a thing earlier?" What's more, what should I do if I am sick when I am so thin in winter clothes? ”

The quartermaster felt Wen Zhao's concern, and was moved in his heart, and immediately said: "My lord, the last general has mobilized the people in the city and asked them to help make a fire and bake clothes. ”

"But most of the people in the city have been recruited to help make arrows, which makes it seem that some of them are understaffed."

"And baking clothes is no better than anything else, and if you are not careful, either the clothes will be difficult to dry, or the clothes will be destroyed by fire. In addition, in the past three days, the soldiers had to change a lot of clothes every day, so some of them could not be supplied. ”

"Can't you get enough clothes?"

Wen Zhao felt his heart blocked, and frowned tightly.

The soldiers fought bloodily, and how could they be allowed to wear clothes that were not dried on the battlefield.

It is important to know that this is a cold winter, and if you are not careful, you will get sick. Fortunately, it was found early today, otherwise in the long run, the soldiers would not have died in battle, but would have frozen to death.

Turning his gaze on Tian Feng, Wen Zhao said in a deep voice: "Yuan Hao, the arrows are now lacking in iron arrows, and their lethality has been greatly weakened, so let's stop making them first." ”

"Let the people who have been requisitioned all help the soldiers to bake their clothes."

"And bonfires shall be lit in all parts of the wall, so that the soldiers in wet clothes may come and make the fires."

"As for Yuan Jun, don't worry, I have already thought of a way to break the enemy."