(a)

After Sun Zhanming heard the news of the arrival of Lei Shicheng's department, he had mixed feelings. On the one hand, he was enthusiastic in his heart, he and Lei Shicheng played for Liu Yan in the same dynasty before, and he didn't have the opportunity to play against the army, and he didn't know how his combat level was compared with Lei Shicheng. On the other hand, he knows the sincerity of NVC, and estimates that even if he is defeated, he will not surrender, and this battle is probably his last battle.

But he knew your intention to send him to fight Lei Shicheng, and he didn't dare to slack off militarily. He overcame all kinds of emotional turmoil in his heart and devoted himself to the planning of this important battle.

With your approval, he sent a part of the light cavalry to attract and contain Lei Shicheng's forward force, while the other part of the main force quietly bypassed Lei Shicheng's advance guard and attacked the flank and rear of his main force.

During the day of the next day, Sun Zhanming's strategic deployment was completed, completely cutting off the retreat of Lei Shicheng's troops and encircling them in a narrow strip of land with a radius of 50 miles. There is no water source in this area, and there is no shelter.

Sun Zhanming knew that Lei Shicheng's combat effectiveness was extremely strong. In order to reduce casualties, that night, the Northern Han army surrounded the department and did not fight, but continued to send small troops to attack and harass it in phases and batches, so that their whole army was tired and could not rest.

In the dry weather, the soldiers were thirsty, and in the dark night, the Northern Han army's attack shouts and firearms attacks did not know the authenticity, so that they could only stay on guard all night and could not sleep.

What's even worse is that in the second half of the night, Sun Zhanming's troops began to light a large amount of dry firewood and the only grass near the campsite of the department, and the fireworks rushed straight to the camp tent of Lei Shicheng's department with the help of the wind, and the smoke was really unbearable.

(b)

At dawn, the Northern Han army launched a general attack.

Under the command of Sun Zhanming, the Northern Han army launched an extremely dense arrow attack on Lei Shicheng's troops who were besieged in a narrow strip.

Sun Zhanming used 200 pack horses to supply the arrows needed for shooting in turn.

Throughout the morning, Lei Shicheng's camp without geographical shelter was plunged into a storm of arrows, with heavy casualties.

In order to reduce casualties, Lei Shicheng shrank the infantry to the center of the camp and sent cavalry troops to charge the archers of the Northern Han. But this charge was stubbornly blocked by the heavy cavalry units of the Northern Han Dynasty. It was the first time for Lei Shicheng to fight with the elite of the New Han Army that you had trained, I didn't expect your army to be so strong, this round of charge, Lei Shicheng killed 500 enemies and lost 1,000 himself.

Lei Shicheng knew that he was at a disadvantage and the attack failed, so he adjusted the formation again and planned to organize a second charge to break through.

However, in the process of adjusting the deployment of the troops, due to the panic and fatigue of the soldiers, the original formation of the Lei Shicheng unit was chaotic in the transfer.

A panicked and desperate infantryman, who had been struck by three arrows and was almost trampled to death by the crowd of the cavalry troops, struggled to climb a hill and shouted in fear: "Help! Help me! ”

The other infantry, frightened by the morning rain of arrows, somehow fled from behind him up the hillside, and for a moment the formation was in great confusion, the morale of the army was shaken, and the situation was dangerous.

Lei Shicheng had to send a group of cavalry to rush over and suppress the situation, driving the out-of-control infantry unit down the hill to avoid being shot more.

For a time, all the troops were mixed up and in a mess.

At this time, the rearguard troops, which were also attacked by a rain of arrows and attacked by the light cavalry charge of the Northern Han Dynasty, which was overwhelmingly numerous, also began to retreat, which made the whole order even more chaotic.

Lei Shicheng knew that the general trend was gone, and he no longer considered any plans, so he personally put on the battle and led the cavalry to charge the front of Sun Zhanming's army.

This charge, inspired by Lei Shicheng personally, was very tenacious and heroic. In the face of the Northern Han army's dense rain of arrows, the Southern Han army did not flinch, although people continued to fall from their horses with arrows, but the rest of the people still endured the pain and rushed forward, and generally did not lose their fighting spirit and courage.

The charge put tremendous pressure on the Northern Han army.

Sun Zhanming was in a nervous mood, standing on the command vehicle with his beard twisted, motionless as he watched Lei Shicheng's charge and the fierce battle between the two armies.

After the fierce battle lasted for a while, the superiority of the Northern Han army's men in combat and equipment finally came to the fore.

NVC Cheng finally fell into disadvantage due to being outnumbered.

They turned from shock to retreat, and little by little they were compressed into a small circle of only about 20 miles in circumference.

(c)

The Northern Han army surged from all directions and surrounded them tightly.

Sun Zhanming, wearing heavy armor, personally drove the command car, came to the front of the battle, and shouted loudly to Lei Shicheng, hoping that he would give up senseless resistance and surrender to Liu Shen.

Lei Shicheng's side was silent and did not respond.

Sun Zhanming was sad in his heart, couldn't bear to give up, and once again as an old friend, he made a statement before the battle, and he sincerely knew the righteousness of NVC, moved with affection, and conveyed the sincerity of your invitation. He said that if Lei Shicheng is willing to surrender, you will personally come to the battlefield to welcome him.

He also said that even if Lei Shicheng wanted to swear allegiance to Liu Yan's royal court, but this army had followed him for many years, how could he bear to cut off the lives of all the soldiers when the defeat was already decided and the resistance was useless?

Sun Zhanming's throat was dry, but Lei Shicheng's side was always silent.

Sun Zhanming stood on the command car in disappointment, waiting for Lei Shicheng's reaction with a glimmer of hope.

Lei Shicheng was in the encirclement and heard Sun Zhanming's shouting clearly.

He had already suffered six stab wounds, bleeding profusely and his armor was completely naked. But he was heroic and unyielding, and he did not want to consider Sun Zhanming's proposal to surrender at all. However, Sun Zhanming's words of advising him not to burn the entire army deeply moved him.

Seeing Sun Zhanming looking forward to it in the command car, he couldn't help but think of the friendship and sympathy of the same dynasty for many years. He sighed silently in his heart, and then gave the order to the archers to shoot intensively in the direction of the command vehicle as an answer to the refusal to surrender.

Sun Zhanming saw the rain of arrows flying like locusts, and knew that Lei Shicheng had made up his mind and would rather die than surrender, so he could only sigh deeply, retreat, and organize the final general attack.

However, he still couldn't bear to harm Lei Shicheng, so he ordered the Northern Han army to build a wall of fire around Lei Shicheng's department, trying to force them to surrender with thirst and hunger.

(iv)

When the siege entered the night, Lei Shicheng looked around at the remnants around him, either injured or disabled. Fatigue, exhaustion, pain, hunger and thirst afflicted each and every one of them.

Lei Shicheng remembered the scene of the old Han King's deathbed entrustment, the first time he met you in Dongcheng, remembered the repeated admonitions to Liu Yan, and remembered the past when he gave Sun Zhanming a secret order to prevent you from selecting troops in Yantang, he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion and burst into tears.

He called the rest of his generals to his side.

He said that his family background was favored by the old Han king, and he was entrusted by the old Han king on his deathbed, and he must not turn his back on the new king chosen by the old Han king and commit treason to the enemy. But now that he has become a turtle in an urn, it is difficult to escape the net, he doesn't want to be a prisoner of the Northern Han Dynasty, he doesn't want to face you again, and he doesn't want to see Liu Shen again, he decided to commit suicide and martyrdom.

He ordered his subordinates to lead the remnants to surrender to the Northern Han after his death, and not to make any more senseless sacrifices.

His decision was unanimously opposed by his subordinates. The remnants of the trapped officers and men unanimously expressed their willingness to fight and die together and never disgrace the honor of this unit.

Lei Shicheng was moved to tears by everyone's loyalty and fearlessness.

All the officers and men gathered all the wine bottles they carried with the army, silently faced each other, and drank booze.

When the first glimmer of light appeared on the horizon, Lei Shicheng supported his seriously injured body and pulled out his sword.

He said, "For the sake of the former king, for our glory, now, let us begin the last charge!" ”

He shouted, "Kill! "The first rode and rushed to the wall of fire.

As he passed through the wall of fire, his beard and horsehair began to burn.

Like a flaming fireball, he rained arrows and rushed straight into the array of the Northern Han army.

He carried arrows all over his body, and after killing five people in a row, he was pierced by dozens of spears, and fell under his horse covered in blood, and a large area of land was stained red with blood.

The rest of the troops followed him in this extremely tragic suicidal charge.

As a result, all the people died under the arrows, axes, guns and spears of the Northern Han army, and none of them escaped.

The battle ended tragically among the corpses everywhere.

(5)

Sun Zhanming painfully collected the body of his old friend and reported Lei Shicheng's death to you and Liu Shen.

After receiving the report of Lei Shicheng's death in battle, your heart is also very heavy.

You ordered Sun Zhanming to return Lei Shicheng's body, belongings, and the flags of his subordinates to the Southern Han Dynasty, so that he could return to his hometown and be buried in his own cemetery.

You keep the letter that Sun Zhanming wrote to you at that time to report Lei's death.

Later, you ordered the generals of the New Army of the Northern Han Dynasty to circulate this letter, and you also ordered the reserve officers who studied during the exercise to circulate this letter on many occasions.

You told them that you hope they will remember the end of Lei Shicheng.

You said that as a general, if you don't think about the righteousness of the world, stick to your personal morality or emotional ties, and choose the wrong mediocre king, you will cause a tragedy in the world and your person, and regret it for life.

(f)

The day after the fall of Lei Shicheng's troops, Sun Zhanming and Wu Shunbu once again launched a decisive attack on Bacheng.

The black and oppressive Northern Han army soldiers under the city of Bacheng, erected more than 3,000 siege ladders, and for a while the battlefield shouted to kill the sky, the fire was blazing, and the sky and the earth changed color.

After the fierce battle, under the cover of the sea of people, the Northern Han army erected hundreds of bridges across the trenches, smashed open the gate of Bacheng, and entered the city.

Ba Cheng was broken.

Sun Zhanming led the Han army into Bacheng to hunt down the remnants of the enemy.

Zhaoyang Hou's soldiers were defeated like a mountain, the whole city was lost, and in desperation, he had to draw his sword in his mansion and commit suicide.

After the city was broken, Queen Liu Yan's family was hunted down and slaughtered by the Northern Han army.

The Southern Han Dynasty and the opposition were shaken again, and for a time, the whole city of Dongcheng was shaken by the mourning.