On the morning of 17 November, before the sun showed his head, Huang Zongxiang was awakened by the family who rushed to the Zhai Yamen to report the news, and said that the soldiers and horses of the imperial court had arrived ten miles away, and they had not camped to rest, and marched to Shangsizhou overnight.

When he arrived at the Walled Hall and wore armor, Huang Zongxiang muttered in his heart, although the road from Qianlongtong to Shangsizhou is along the Mingjiang River Valley, which is not a mountain road, but there is no reason to march at night, and the soldiers and horses of the imperial court are crazy?

Before the armor was put away, someone came to report that the imperial soldiers and horses had broken through the first pass, and they did not stop at all, and were continuing to march here.

Huang Zongxiang was a little anxious at this time, grabbed the person who came to report the news, and asked, "How many people are here?" ”

"The small ones can't see clearly from a distance, I only see lanterns lit on the road, like long insects, I can't see the head at a glance, densely packed with people, thousands of people!"

Pushing the person in his hand, Huang Zongxiang scolded: "Straight lady thief, how many soldiers and horses are there in Yongzhou?" Even if they all come to Shangsizhou, it can't be thousands! You're blind! ”

The family who reported the news was pushed to the ground, looking at the angry Huang Zongxiang's eager appearance, where did he dare to speak? But in my heart, I was wronged, and in the middle of the night, who could see the number of people clearly?

Since then, the people guarding the periphery have come to report that the passes set up in the periphery of Shangsizhou are all broken as soon as they are beaten, and they can't stop the footsteps of the imperial court soldiers and horses, and they will go outside the walled city.

Huang Zongxiang looked outside the village, the sky had just revealed a touch of fish belly white, and the outside was hazy, and he couldn't see people's faces clearly a few steps away. Even if people in the countryside get up early, it is difficult to recruit people at this time, and they can't help but feel bitter in their hearts.

On the road outside the village, Gao Daquan rode a horse and constantly patrolled back and forth, so as not to leave anyone behind in the night.

These village soldiers all came from the sugar cane business, and when they were busy, they often worked all night on the farm, so when it came to marching at night, they were more adapted than those regular van troops, and they drove seventy miles a day and a night, and they did not lose their strength.

As soon as the sun emerged from the top of the mountain, Gao Daquan took people to the outside of Shangsizhou Village.

Huang Zongxiang finally tidied up his staff, took it to the wall, and went up to the watchtower himself.

Looking at the township soldiers who were lining up outside, a pro-soldier whispered to Huang Zongxiang: "Master, the soldiers and horses of the imperial court are newly here, and the formation is not stable, we might as well rush out and beat them off guard!" ”

"Brainbroken?" Huang Zongxiang glared fiercely at the pro-soldier who spoke, "I didn't see that these people are all wearing armor, and their swords and guns are neat!" Do you think it's the gang of the Chungju Huang family who used to fight with us? Now that taking people out is in their hands, this walled city will be useless! To be honest with you, settle down, it's serious to guard the walled city well, don't think nonsense! As long as we hold on, they will stay for two days and go back naturally! ”

The pro-soldier shrank his head, not daring to say more.

Huang Zongxiang looked at it and asked the soldiers around him: "How many strong men outside have entered the village?" ”

"There were only a few dozen people, and the others were too late. The main family originally said that they would be here tonight, and those lazy people can't delay a moment longer? ”

Huang Zongxiang gritted his teeth with hatred: "It was my miscalculation, I didn't expect them to come so quickly!" But these people under our rule are really underwhelmed, and the lord's family speaks, what kind of procrastination becomes? ”

After the township soldiers finished arraying, Tong Dutou asked Gao Daquan: "Commander, do you want me to go up and rush for a while?" Let's see how these barbarians cope, and we'll make sense. ”

"It's okay, but don't fall in love with the war, lead the barbarians to deploy and come back!"

Tong Dutou responded with a promise and beckoned his soldiers to come out first.

The soldiers lined up, the flag bearer was the first, and the line was last, slowly moving forward to the beat of the drums.

If the two armies are facing each other, there should be two or three rounds of bows and crossbows in the process of advancing, but now it is to attack the village, and there are few strong bows and crossbows among the village soldiers, but they rely on shields to protect the strong charge.

In the first team, the flag bearer is the leader, the escort team is the vice, the flag bearer is also the charge, and the escort team is also supervising the battle. Therefore, the flag bearer leads the flag, holds a spear and a shield, and takes the lead. The escort team has a steel knife, which is at the end, and the one between the two is the ordinary soldier, and the escort team who is cowardly when attacking can be directly beheaded.

In the heat of battle, the flag bearer suffered the greatest casualties, and the second person was replaced by a second person. The escort team is the safest, but it requires ruthlessness, and the key is to be able to deal with your own people. Therefore, although the escort team is a deputy position, it is always someone else who replaces the flag bearer, and it is rare that the deputy position of the escort team becomes a regular. In the eyes of others, the escort team is a character who deserves a thousand cuts, and it is his turn to lead the people below him to rebel.

Watching the officers and soldiers slowly approaching the gate of the wall, the native soldiers on the wall of the wall all made noise.

Huang Zongxiang shouted: "Shut up for me!" What to shout! These people don't even have a ladder, do they want to fly into the stockade? The sons and daughters just listened to the order, and when they got closer, they opened their bows and arrows, and shot them to death! ”

After tossing for a while, the crowd on the walled wall finally quieted down.

Tong Dutou had already dismounted, and walked at the front of the team with a knife and a shield. It is necessary to reach the commander and above before he can not rush with the army, and the head of the capital will inevitably rush into battle. The deputy capital head is located at the end of the team, one is to play the role of supervising the battle, and the other is once the capital head has an accident, he can stabilize the army's morale and avoid chaos.

The drums beat slowly, and the procession marched slowly, pressing forward little by little.

The walled city of Shangsizhou does not have a moat, but it is built on the mountain, and the road in front of the wall is high and low, so it is not easy to keep the team tidy when moving forward slowly. Every time less than 100 steps are advanced, the drum beat becomes extremely slow, giving Tong Dutou time to organize the team.

Seeing Tong Dutou's team walking nearly a hundred steps away from the wall, Huang Zongxiang became nervous, staring at the slowly advancing team, and raised his right hand high.

Seeing seventy or eighty steps, Huang Zongxiang waved his hand violently: "Release the arrow!" Poison arrows! Shoot them! ”

With this order, the native soldiers on the wall of the wall all bent their bows and arrows, and shot indiscriminately outside the wall.

The natives were all soft-bowed, and they could not shoot at a distance of seventy or eighty paces, and the raindrops were generally in front of the siege team. Because there is no command system, no matter whether it shoots people or not, the rain of arrows just keeps shooting.

Tong Du looked at the arrows that landed in front of him and frowned. Before entering the cane sugar business, he was stationed in Yizhou's Xiang army, and he had a lot of dealings with these barbarians, and he knew that the barbarian bows and arrows did not seem to be very powerful, but many of them were smeared with poison, so he couldn't be careless. Even the military doctor is troublesome to bring antidote drugs, because there are all kinds of poisons on the arrows, such as the sap of trees, such as the famous "blood seals the throat", and some poisons are taken from poisonous snakes and other animals, and it is difficult to prescribe the right medicine.

The team slowly reached a distance of fifty paces, and the earth soldiers on the wall of the wall were noisy, and the rain of arrows became more urgent, and the sound of shooting on the shields made a crackling sound.

Seeing that the officers and soldiers could not be knocked down, Huang Zongxiang became impatient and shouted loudly: "Stones, move stones, wait for them to fall under the wall and kill them!" And hot oil is also ready! ”

There were native soldiers who promised to add another handful of firewood under the cauldron that had already been boiling on the wall. This pot is full of boiling hot oil, which is poured down when the officers and soldiers get close to the wall.

At this moment, the drumming suddenly stopped, and with a cymbal, Gao Daquan's side withdrew his troops.

Looking at the slowly retreating officers and soldiers, Huang Zongxiang was confused, he didn't know what they were tossing and doing, they hadn't fought yet, why did they retreat again?

The person with Tong Du's head belt slowly retreated, returned to Gao Daquan's side, and asked, "Commander, why did you retreat?" Let me enter in front of his walled gate, and I may break the walled gate in a fit of anger! ”

"No need! Originally, if you had brought gunpowder over, it would have been useful in front of the gate of the village, and if you had buried it there, you would have blasted them into the sky! But we have another way today. ”

As he spoke, Gao Daquan asked the small steel cannon he brought to be unloaded from his horse and moved to the front of the formation, and the ten small cannons were laid out in a row. A sergeant who specializes in handling guns brought accessories and squatted on the ground to install the gun mount.

Tong Dutou looked at the ten black and flickering iron pipes, frowned and asked Gao Daquan: "This thing doesn't look inconspicuous, is it really useful?" ”

"It's okay, anyway, one shot can knock down the wall when I try it in the lifting division. However, the wall is an existing base, far less solid than the wall here, and I don't know what it looks like when the ten guns are fired in unison, and I haven't tried it. ”

Gao Daquan said, looked at the artillery mount over there, and said to Tong Dutou: "You lead the team up as just now, these ten cannons are pushed in front, and when they are eighty steps away from the wall, they stop and aim at the salvo." ”

Tong Dutou asked, "Where to hit?" ”

"Is it Huang Zongxiang standing on the watchtower?" Gao Daquan asked, pointing to the watchtower.

Tong Dutou nodded: "Can't be wrong!" When I just passed, I heard someone shouting from the watchtower, and I saw him pointing his fingers, except for Huang Zongxiang, which one would be like this? ”

"Good! Then eighty paces away, ten cannons bombarded the watchtower together! ”

Tong Dutou's face was full of excitement when he heard this, he had never seen what this small cannon looked like, but he heard Gao Daquan say that it was very useful, how could dozens of cannons collapse the wall. It's a pity that Xu Ping repeatedly confessed that when he was facing the enemy, he would shoot at most three shots in a row, and then he had to wait until the barrel was cold, and he saw that there were no cracks and so on. Otherwise, the bow and arrow in the village can't be shot anyway, just squat outside the village and fire the cannon, and the wall will be shattered.

In fact, in Xu Ping's opinion, this small cannon is very funny, and it is completely incomparable with the majestic appearance he saw in movies and television in his previous life, but it is like a large salute when people have happy events. No matter how he looked at it, he felt that it was not safe, and he deliberately cast dozens of iron eggs for the cannon operator to carry on his body, and iron lumps were more destructive than stones.

Seeing the officers and soldiers retreating, Huang Zongxiang's face was full of excitement, and he couldn't stop cheering up his subordinates. These birds look a little mighty, but they are actually silver-like spearheads, can they really fly to the wall!

Suddenly, the drums outside the village sounded again, and the group of officers and soldiers who had just retreated slowly marched towards the wall of the village, and the speed was obviously faster than just now.

"Sons, cheer up, these thieves and soldiers are playing tricks on us, be careful that this time you really rush under the wall! The stone hot oil is ready! ”

Huang Zongxiang shouted while staring at the officers and soldiers who came closely.

When they reached a place less than a hundred paces away from the wall, the officer-like guy who was walking in front suddenly stopped, and the soldiers around him waved the flag violently.

The drums stopped abruptly.

Dozens of lightly armed soldiers came out, pushed out a row of black iron pipes, and aimed them at the watchtower