Li Yi's presence on the battlefield boosted the morale of the Northern Xinjiang Army, but when the soldiers calmed down from the excitement and faced the tall and strong city wall in front of them, the breath of blood and death on the battlefield brutally knocked them back to reality. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Northern Army continued to bombard for an hour, and countless stones and arrows poured down on the city walls.

The towers at the top of the city wall suffered great losses under the ravages of stones and arrows, and several small wooden buildings were directly blown down by the stones. The city of Urn was also hit hard. The thin female wall on the front was smashed a lot by stones. The enemy troops lying in ambush behind Feng Yuan were the main targets of the Northern Frontier Army, and they were almost overwhelmed by large and small stones and arrows.

Luoyang City is too high, and there are gatehouses, horse faces, wooden buildings and other buildings on the city wall, and the commanding heights of the rebels are daunting. If the commanding heights are controlled by the rebels, the strong attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army will be suppressed, and the casualties will be staggering, so the Northern Xinjiang Army will use this month to build a large number of earthen platforms with wood and soil on the edge of the city defense, and build a solid wooden shed on the earthen platform to house ballistas and archers.

In the middle of the crossbow and the arrow emplacement, there is the catapult position. There are many types of catapults and ballistae transported by the Northern Xinjiang Army to the city, and the number is also extremely large, among which the large bed crossbows and heavy catapults are the first time to be put into the siege battle.

The large bed crossbow, also known as the three-bow bed crossbow, is a three-bow crossbow on the crossbow arm, two at the front end, and one at the back, which is also installed opposite to the front and back. Because this kind of bed crossbow is stronger, it is also called "eight bull crossbow", which means that it can be pulled apart with the strength of eight old cows. It generally takes 20 to 100 people to open a crossbow by manpower, and the general range is 200 to 300 paces, that is, about 370 to 560 meters.

The crossbow arrows used in the three-bow bed crossbow are very huge, with thick shafts and iron feathers, and the front end is equipped with a huge three-edged blade iron arrowhead, because it is about the same size as the spears used by ordinary soldiers, so it is also called "one gun and three sword arrows".

It also has another name called "Stepping Arrow", that is because it also has a special function, that is, when attacking the enemy's castle, the thick three-bow crossbow arrow is shot at the enemy city wall, so that the front end of the crossbow arrow is deeply inserted into the wall, leaving only half of the thick arrow shaft and tail feathers exposed outside the wall, and the besieging soldiers can climb these huge arrow shafts inserted in the wall under their own cover to climb the city wall and capture the city. As a result, this huge crossbow bolt became a pedal for siegers to climb, so these arrows also got the name "pedal arrow".

The ballista is the same as the catapult, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in the late Han Dynasty, because of the abandonment of military equipment, only the sentence note, the flying fox, Lulong and other large fortresses are equipped with some, and later because of disrepair scrapped, when the firewood He burned.

However, this is not difficult for Li Yi, who called him the existence of the bug of "summoning system", as early as more than ten years ago, not long after the Yellow Turban Rebellion was quelled, he spent some experience points to exchange all these relevant materials.

Over the years, the infantry units of the Northern Xinjiang Army have been equipped with ballistas and catapults, but they are not very powerful. In order to attack Luoyang City this time, Li Yi ordered a large number of large ballista vehicles and heavy catapults to be manufactured. Because of the complexity of manufacturing, there are only more than 20 large catapults, while the heavy catapults have been improved because of Liu Ye's suggestion, and the number has reached more than 300 units.

Catapults are generally divided into light and heavy levels according to the number of levers, and a few strokes are called "tips". The heavy catapult from five to seven tips requires more than 200 people to pull ropes and throw stone bullets of fifty or sixty catties or even more than 100 catties. Medium-sized catapults are generally two-to-four-ended, and when they move, they are equipped with four wheels, and the livestock pull them up and run. As for the light catapult, there is only one tip, two or three soldiers can pull it, and the stone bullet weighs only one or two pounds, and if there is no stone bullet, it can be replaced by other things. Although this light catapult is rudimentary, it can still be useful if it hits the enemy, either maiming or killing the enemy.

Liu Ye's improvement of the heavy catapult is mainly that it does not need to be pulled by people. According to his design, a large stone was attached to the rear end of the lever, and before the bullet was released, it was suspended in the air and held in place by hooking the lever with an iron hook. When the bullet is released, the iron hook is released, and the boulder at the back of the lever will fall rapidly, and the stone projectile at the front of the lever will fly high. In this way, the manpower requirement was reduced, the range of the stone projectile was longer, and the power was greater, and the use of heavy catapults in field warfare and siege became a reality.

The deployment of large bed crossbows and heavy catapults greatly increased the attack power of the Northern Frontier Army, but strong attack power does not mean that it can control the commanding heights. The indiscriminate bombardment of the Northern Xinjiang Army was intended to induce the rebels to return fire in order to destroy the enemy's commanding heights as much as possible before the first strong attack, but the rebels seemed to see through the purpose of the Northern Xinjiang Army and did not fire a single arrow, which made the Northern Xinjiang soldiers helpless.

Li Yi gave the order to attack.

Yue Fei immediately ordered all heavy catapults, large bed crossbows, repeater ballistae, and some medium-sized catapults to adjust their attack angles, and when the assault began, shoot all the stone bullets and arrows on the main city wall and the urn city to suppress the enemy's counterattack. The rest of the medium-sized catapults, light catapults, and foot crossbows were all aimed at Wengcheng and Fengyuan, covering the advance of the assault with powerful attacks.

Gao Ran ordered his assault troops to take the trench bridge and line up in front.

The moat bridge was made of thick wood, about seventy feet long, with wheels at both ends. The bridge deck was flapped on both sides, on which a thick layer of mud was laid to protect against enemy rocket attacks. Assault soldiers use this weapon to climb over moats, which can greatly save attack time and speed up the attack.

The follow-up parts are lined up in the back. The soldiers carried the planks one by one, ready to lay the planks horizontally on the bridge after the assault had conquered the moat, allowing the follow-up troops to continue to advance.

The chariots were all pushed to the front, followed by the strong archers.

The car is like a simple tube building, more than 50 feet high, and there is an arrow house hanging from its top. Archers can shoot enemy troops from a high position. Generally, the effective range of the strongbow is between 100 and 150 paces, and when the assault soldiers have conquered the first and second lines of moats, the chariot and the strongbowmen can play a role in covering the assault to continue to advance.

In a short period of time, the banners of the readiness of the various ministries were raised.

"Drum ......" Gao Ran shouted, "Attack, start attacking......"

The war drums of "Knock Knock Knock ......" sounded, the flag flew and the assault troops began to attack.

The elite Northern Xinjiang Army soldiers of the "Killing ......" raised their shields, pushed the trench bridge, and ran hard, roaring into the sky.

………………

"Knock knock ......" Suddenly, drums rang out on Luoyang City, and arrows poured down like rain.

"Boom...... Boom ......" Burning stones rose into the sky, roaring all the way, and pounced fiercely on the northern frontier battle array.

The rebels fought back. The rebels on the walls of the city condescended and shot hard. The roar of the ballista resounded through the sky, and sharp arrows and flaming stone bullets filled the sky.

At the same time, the enemy troops hiding behind Wengcheng and Feng Yuan also launched fire.

The assault force of the Northern Xinjiang Army was the enemy's main target. The running soldiers fell one after another in a rain of arrows. Stone bullets smashed into the crowd one after another, stumps and broken arms shot up in all directions, and several stone bullets directly hit the trench bridge, smashing the thick trench bridge at the waist.

The crossbow platforms, arrow emplacements and catapult positions of the Northern Frontier Army were also targets for the enemy. Due to the fact that the commanding heights were controlled by the enemy, the arrow array was dense, and the earth platform was hit hard. The archers on the emcourse were forced to retreat into the wooden shed. Although the ballista on the crossbow platform was still bombarding continuously, the interval was significantly longer. The catapult position was not in a bad situation at first due to the cover of a giant wooden shield. But the problem became serious when the rebels smashed a wooden shield with a stone bullet and smashed a medium-sized catapult.

The captain of the chariot battalion asked Yue Fei if he would move the catapult position back. Yue Fei was so angry that he scolded angrily: "What are you afraid of? He can hit you, you can't hit him? Give me a bang......"

The captain of the chariot battalion said: "General, the rebels' catapults are in the city, and we can't accurately judge the location. ”

"If you can't help it, give it to me." Yue Fei whipped to the ground and roared angrily, "Hit the city wall first, and blow up the rebels' ballistas for me, hurry up and ......"

Like a roaring dragon, the long trench bridge of "Boom ......" soared into the air, drawing a graceful arc in the air and falling heavily onto the brace.

"Go up, go up......" A soldier of the Northern Xinjiang Army lay on the ground, holding the shield with one hand and hammering the ground with the other, shouting loudly, "Cross the bridge, cross the bridge......

One of the assault northern Xinjiang troops jumped up, and rushed up to the trench bridge in three or two steps like a cunning rabbit. A few soldiers followed, galloping wildly.

"Boom ......" The whistling sound of sharp arrows tearing through the air was terrifying. The team leader didn't think about it, he fell into the mud, and before he fell to the ground, he didn't forget to shout: Lie down, ...... quickly."

The rear soldiers couldn't dodge, and immediately fell two people, one of whom fell into the trench and was pierced by several bamboo thorns, and the screams were extremely terrible.

The team leader shouted angrily at the top of his throat, used his hands and feet together, and crawled to the opposite bank.

"Come over quickly...... "The soldier kicked on the tun chief beside him, and said loudly, "Take your people, hurry up and ......"

"Brothers, go, go, go......" Tun Chang turned his head and shouted, his body like an arrow, and he rushed out quickly.

………………

At noon, the Northern Frontier Army successfully captured the first line of moat and erected a shield array on the opposite bank.

The follow-up troops then advanced, laying crossbeams, covering the bridge deck with earth, and quickly preparing for an attack on the second line of moats.

In the afternoon, the attack of the Northern Frontier Army became more violent, and both sides seemed to be about to burst out all the long-accumulated hatred, and more soldiers fell on the battlefield.

The second moat was successfully overcome.

Three hundred chariots were pushed forward, and 6,000 strong archers boarded the arrow house and fired fiercely at the city and below, but the commanding heights were controlled by the enemy, and the Northern Army was unable to suppress the enemy, resulting in the failure of the army to attack the third line of moats.