The aroma of grass mixed with earth blew from the land north of Cangzhou City. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Outside Cangzhou, the golden sunlight shines on the endless grassland, a path leads into the distance, and the occasional collapsed thatched house on the side of the road tells the story of the past.

"After the barbarians captured Youzhou, they burned the dwellings and woods, captured the people, and a prosperous land was overgrown with weeds for ten years, and it became a grazing place for Huyantuobuluo."

On the city wall, Niu Ben looked at the endless grassland, and his words were full of desolation.

Ten years ago, he had stood on this wall and watched the barbarian cavalry gallop here, the flames of which would not be extinguished for months, burning the sky as red as blood.

Zhan Xingchang was also on the city wall, busy for more than two months, and everyone else lost a lot of weight, but in the case of tens of thousands of slaves day and night, a majestic city wall appeared.

"It's a pity that King Yong guarded Youzhou, and he was once the most powerful vassal king, but I didn't expect that he still couldn't resist the barbarians." Zhan Xingchang said.

Xiao Ming looked at the fertile soil outside the city, starting from Cangzhou City to Youzhou, a total of more than 400 miles, and this Youzhou is where the Forbidden City of the modern Ming Dynasty is located.

Known as the Son of Heaven guarding the country, the Ming Dynasty, which was the king of the dead society, disappeared from history like dust after losing the Shanhaiguan, and the Yongwang was also after the Shanhaiguan was broken, and the entire fief was trampled by the barbarians.

If it weren't for Niu Ben's stubborn defense of Cangzhou City at that time, and the encounter with the Ottoman Empire in the Western Regions, the barbarians would definitely not give up their plan to continue southward.

In this way, the Ottoman Empire inadvertently delayed the fall of the Great Yu Kingdom.

"Don't raise the morale of others and destroy your own prestige."

Xiao Ming said lightly, the Great Chongqing Kingdom is a brutal change, what is needed most at this time is morale, and now Xiao Ming has no way to retreat, or to hold Cangzhou, it is not far from death.

Zhan Xingchang woke up, and he fell into the same compassion as many scholars in the Great Chongqing Kingdom.

Niu Ben nodded, "There is nothing to be afraid of the barbarians, they are also flesh and blood, there is nothing to be afraid of, the only thing to worry about is that the soldiers are cowardly before they fight." ”

Zhan Xingchang looked embarrassed and said, "Let His Highness and the general laugh." ”

Xiao Ming patted him on the shoulder and said, "But your words are not entirely wrong, tactically you must pay attention to the enemy, and strategically you must despise the enemy to do it." ”

"Hahaha...... His Royal Highness's words are classics, but they can be written into the art of war. Niu Ben was stunned and said suddenly.

When Zhan Xingchang heard this, he fell into thought.

Xiao Ming said with a smile: "This sentence was not said by me, but by a great man, but this is in response to the current situation with the barbarians." ”

The three of them said as they patrolled the city wall, which was exactly 500 meters away from the city wall on the grassland side.

Now Xiao Ming has transferred most of the troops of the fiefdom to Cangzhou City, and the number is the same as originally expected, a total of 50,000 people.

Among them, except for the Qingzhou Army, which is equipped with new plate armor and weapons, the other new armies are poorly equipped and can only be used as a reserve.

After inspecting the Cangzhou city wall, Zhan Xingchang basically realized the original idea.

Nowadays there is a turret every ten meters above the tower, and a prominent battlement every fifty meters.

These battlements were perpendicular to the walls, so that the soldiers could have more defensive positions.

By this time, bed crossbows and catapults had been arranged in the battlements, and crossbowmen were in place and ready to fight.

At this time, the walls outside the battlements were also stacked with rolling logs, stones, thistles, long forks and other tools to defend the city, among which the long forks were used to push the ladder away.

And everything else is for throwing it down.

Along the inner side of the city wall is a hanging basket leading to the city, under the hanging basket is more fortification materials, if the upper wood and stones run out, the upper ones will be carried up by the auxiliaries.

At the same time, every twenty meters under the city walls was a large iron pot, which was filled with oil, also to deal with the climbing barbarian soldiers.

Outside the city, under the city walls, it was a different story.

A trench three meters deep and three meters wide was dug along the city wall, and in the trench were buried protruding pieces of sharpened bamboo.

The barbarian soldiers of this era wore nothing more than leather boots, and the soft bottom could not resist such sharp bamboo pieces.

On the outside of the trench were dense half-man-high pillars, which were buried underneath the foundations in order to stop the barbarian charge on a large scale, so that the barbarian soldiers would be piled together and become targets for artillery.

"Your Highness, there are quite a few traps on the outside, and these traps are covered with turf and are not easy to detect."

This time, the defensive strategy of the city wall was formulated by Zhan Xingchang, moats, stone pillars and so on.

Niu Ben said to Xiao Ming: "This young man is good, insidious enough, now the barbarians are here, but they have suffered hardship." ”

Zhan Xingchang said depressedly: "Dudu, are you praising me or hurting me?" ”

"Of course it's a compliment on you." Niu Ben laughed, he, like Pang Yukun, is also a person who loves talents.

In his opinion, this Zhan Xingchang is much stronger than many powerful children.

Xiao Ming was also very satisfied with Zhan Xingchang's arrangement, because between the stone pillars, Zhan Xingchang also used hemp rope to trap the rattan soaked in tung oil on the stone pillars.

These rattans are so strong when soaked in tung oil that it takes some time for the sword to be chopped.

And during this time, the crossbowmen on the city walls were able to shoot with all their might.

"Good job." Xiao Ming said with satisfaction.

Generally speaking, it is difficult to siege a city, and it is difficult to win a siege with five times the number of troops.

And the more obstacles are set up during the siege, the greater the losses of the besieging side.

Walking around the city wall, Xiao Ming remembered that he hadn't seen Lu Fei and Luo Xin, and he asked, "Old general, where are Lu Fei and Luo Xin?" ”

At the mention of this, Niu Ben smiled bitterly.

He said: "Since receiving the telescope from His Highness, these two have not been idle, but have taken the soldiers out to inquire every day, and with this telescope, each time the two of them can detect the barbarian scouts in advance, which makes the two of them uncontrollable. ”

Xiao Ming shook his head helplessly, this going out with a telescope is the same as bullying the myopic who is not short-sighted, no wonder the two of them can't stop.

The two were talking, saying Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived, only to see a pair of cavalry figures appear in the distance, and the two in front were Lu Fei and Luo Xin.

When they got closer, the two also saw Xiao Ming.

Entering the city, the two immediately went up to the city wall, and Lu Fei was out of breath: "Your Highness, the Huyantuo Department has accelerated the speed of the march, and it is estimated that it will arrive in the city at noon tomorrow." ”

"This time, the entire tribe of Huyantuo migrated to Cangzhou City, and it has the intention of stationing here, it seems that the barbarian army is behind, and they are providing cattle and sheep for the follow-up army."

Niu Ben asked, "What about the number of troops?" ”

"There are 20,000 cavalry in the Huyantuo Department alone, and there are countless slaves." Luo Xin's expression was solemn.

(To be continued.) )