Chapter 233: Decisive Battle at Youzhou (Twenty-four)

Hell is people's imagination of horror things. Although there are many tragic phenomena in hell that are cut off and heart-burning, no one has seen hell. It is unknown how terrifying hell is. People can only use their imagination to weave different images of hell.

However, when they participated in the battle for Youzhou City, especially those of Youzhou people, Khitan soldiers and the Great Zhou imperial guards who had only known the fierce battles in the South City Wall, they would mention two words when recalling the battle at the South City Wall: Hell.

The battle at the South City Wall is like hell, which does not refer to fires and explosions. Although the explosion has suffered, there are not many casualties.

When the Qingshi Street was rebuilt, it was built quite wide. One of the important purposes was to isolate each area to prevent the whole city from burning when the fire broke out. Therefore, Youzhou City was separated by bluestone slabs by independent areas.

When the fire broke out, the people moved to another area separated from the Qingshi Street. Although the property was burned and lost, their lives were not worry-free. These people and some Khitan soldiers were guarding Qingshi Street with buckets and various fire-fighting objects. A fire caused by Zhou's army with fierce tinder oil was no longer spreading into the city after it was burned to Qingshi Street. It was blocked by wide roads and the soldiers and civilians struggling to put out the fire.

Chen Dong provided a lot of information to the Zhou Dynasty, including the population, food, military deployment, important buildings, etc. Chen Dong did not expect Hou Dayong to burn Youzhou City, so he ignored the Qingshi Street. After all, Hou Dayong did not come to the city in person, and he did not expect that the Khitans actually built Qingshi Street to be an isolation belt in order to prevent fire. Therefore, the fire that Hou Dayong expected did not really burn, but only burned the area behind the southern city wall.

The big explosion under the city wall trampled on the city wall, but the number of Khitan soldiers on the city wall was small, except for a dozen observers who were bombed and lost their traces. The casualties were not heavy.

What really made the South City Wall a hell on earth was the desperate battle between the two armies.

The vanguard army of the Great Zhou siege was the left and right wing army as the main force. The Iron Cavalry Army was the former main force of the imperial guards of the Palace Front Office as the backbone, and Zhao Kuangyin, the commander of the Palace Front Office, became the commander of the Iron Cavalry Army. In the second year of Xiande, Zhao Kuangyin was ordered by Chai Rong to train the imperial guards. As the saying goes, "The moon will be obtained before the water tower, Zhao Kuangyin took the name of training and gathered a group of brave men, and Wang Yansheng was one of them."

Hou Dayong was under the four prime ministers. He could influence Chai Rong, but he could not cover the sky with his own hands. I don’t know what methods Zhao Kuangyin used. When reorganizing the imperial guards, most of the powerful generals such as Wang Yansheng entered the Iron Cavalry.

During the Great Zhou army three southern expeditions, Zhao Kuangyin had made countless contributions to the army's vanguard many times. This time he attacked Youzhou, under Hou Dayong's suggestion, the Iron Cavalry Army naturally became the vanguard army. The reason is very simple: the vanguard of the siege must be the most brave unit, and the Iron Cavalry Army is the only candidate for siege.

During the battle to attack Chuzhou, a fierce street battle occurred, and the huge casualties made Chai Rong, who had always been calm, angry. He issued a city massacre order. During the southern expeditions of more than two years, this was the only city massacre order issued by Chai Rong. Another strong city, Shouzhou, was blocked for a year, but the guard Liu Renzhan finally opened the city to surrender. Although the Zhou army fought for a long time, the casualties were far less than those of Chuzhou. Liu Renzhan, who had been guarding Shouzhou for a year, was finally appointed as the governor, while Zhang Yanqing, the guard who fought hard in Chuzhou, was burned all his family.

Almost all the chief generals of the six imperial guards participated in the southern expedition, and were still scared of the street fighting in Chuzhou. When Hou Dayong decided to use the Iron Cavalry as the vanguard, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. This reason was upright, and in front of the generals, he announced that Zhao Kuangyin was the deputy recruiting envoy to the north, and he could not refute it at all. The mute ate Coptis chinensis and could not say anything about his suffering. He could only accept this task that was destined to suffer heavy losses.

When the city wall was blown up, the Iron Cavalry rushed into the city with all their might. At the front was the infantry led by Wang Yansheng, the deputy commander of the Iron Cavalry right wing. Wang Yansheng rushed into Youzhou City first. He crossed the rocky gap, but found that there was a huge fire behind the gap. The fire ignited by fierce tinder oil was still not extinguished. The vanguard of the Great Zhou army who rushed into the city was blocked by the fire released by the Zhou army. Only the road at the right wall could barely pass.

Hundreds of Khitan archers were already waiting in front of the only passage. The leader was the Khitan general who was commanding the transfer of the residents in the city. After the explosion sounded, he quickly woke up and led the Khitan soldiers at his hand to block the Zhou army's must-pass.

Wang Yansheng rushed along the wall for a while, and was about to rush out of the fire, and suddenly, dense iron arrows were shot from the flames. Wang Yansheng's eyes were fast. Although Mo Dao grew up, he still used extremely skillful techniques to push a few subway arrows in front of him to push away. The soldiers under Wang Yansheng's men did not have his ability, and the dense iron arrows shot overturned many soldiers.

At this time, the brigade of Zhou troops rushed in from the gap like a flood, and the soldiers rushing into the city had no room for retreat. Therefore, although the Khitans blocked the road with dense arrows, the infantry rushed over. There were shield soldiers and spearmen in the infantry. The shield soldiers could barely use individual shields to block the Khitan iron arrows, but it was extremely difficult for the spearmen to avoid the accurate and fast subway arrows. In a blink of an eye, dozens of imperial guards who rushed to the front had been shot to the ground.

The Khitans' iron arrows were too dense, and Wang Yansheng had to stop after a few steps. He focused on blocking the iron arrows, and only heard the "dang, dang" sound. More than ten arrows under him were blocked to the ground by the thick Modao. Wang Yansheng secretly worried that the Khitans' arrows were very dense, with strength and strength. If this continues, he will eventually fail.

Wang Yansheng glanced at the corner of his eyes that several soldiers were shot to the ground. He waved his Modao and grabbed the body of a soldier, blocking the soldier in front, and turned around and shouted: "Follow me." More than a dozen shield players followed immediately. They were also old soldiers who had been fighting for a long time. They knew that if they were blocked by Khitan archers, even if they had bows and arrows, they would sooner or later unable to block subway arrows. Wang Yansheng called out and rushed forward. The spearmen without shields were forced to be shot in a very embarrassing manner. Seeing Wang Yansheng's method, they also followed Wang Yansheng's plan and captured the fallen soldiers and made their own human shield.

The Khitan general was surprised to see the Zhou army so brave. Although the war was tight, he was very calm and said to himself: "It is said that the southerners are cowardly, but it seems that this is not the case. These southern barbarians are extremely brave and are quite inferior to the soldiers under his command."

Seeing that the Zhou army gathered more and more under the city walls, the Khitan generals looked up at the collapsed city wall. The collapsed part was hundreds of steps. Some Khitan soldiers were still standing at the fracture entrance and shot arrows down. However, the fracture entrance was not wide and there were not many people. The Zhou army was densely packed in the city walls. Even if the iron arrows from top to bottom were shot accurately, they could not shoot many people, and the problem could not be solved.

Wang Yansheng led dozens of Zhou troops, led by a man from the Modao, and had approached Qingshi Street. The corpse he was carrying had dozens of iron arrows inserted into the corpse, and arrows were clustered outside. Just like a large hedgehog.

As long as the imperial guards broke into Qingshi Street, it would be difficult for the Khitan archers to fire arrows calmly. The situation was already extremely serious. The Khitan general's expression was as usual. He saw Zhou Jun crowded under the wall, and even smiled on his face. However, the smile flashed. He looked up at the broken corner of the city wall and threw the pot pots down, and gritted his teeth and said, "This is called coming but not going." The fashionable areas of these pot pots were covered with hot tinsels, and they immediately spread all over the place. The Khitan soldiers at the broken corner had smashed the pot pots and fired them down.

The fire immediately became a raging fire at the broken corner of the city wall, and countless Zhou troops were squeezed into the broken corner and could not move forward or retreat. The fire broke out and screamed everywhere, and countless imperial guards rolled in the sea of ​​fire. Seeing this tragic phenomenon, even though the Zhou troops outside the city were full of fighting spirit, they could not help but stop, and the Zhou troops inside and outside the city were separated.

In addition to Wang Yansheng, the deputy commander of the right wing of the iron cavalry, who entered the city, the Zhou army also rushed to the front, the left wing commander Ji Qingyang.

The Iron Cavalry Army was mostly Zhao Kuangyin's direct line. The result of Hou Dayong's secret activity. After Ji Qingyang arrived at the Iron Cavalry Army, there was a famous Zhao Kuangyin above and a soft-hearted general under the lower level. He felt that the commander of the left wing was a good man. At the beginning of the Northern Expedition, Zhao Kuangyin was appointed as the deputy commander of the Northern Camp, and formed the front-line commander of the Northern Expedition Army with Hou Dayong and Wei Renpu. The Iron Cavalry Army led their troops on the left and right sides. Only then did Ji Qingyang feel like he was the chief general.

In the army, generals must be respected and trusted by their subordinates, the most important thing is to have strength. Being able to win battles is a very important strength. Ji Qingyang has been thinking about winning a battle to establish the authority of the left wing army of the Iron Cavalry. Therefore, he was also actively seeking wars. The infantry of the left wing army of the Iron Cavalry was arranged behind the Right wing army, and rushed into Youzhou City one by one from the gap.

Ji Qingyang commanded the command forward. When the collapsed city wall burned, he was also in the city. When the fire broke out, Ji Qingyang roared angrily: "Everyone rushed out desperately. Who dared to retreat? I will definitely kill him." In the chaos, the soldiers of the Iron Cavalry did not know whether they heard this general order clearly, but they did not rush forward, which was a dead end. After they survived a brief panic, they rushed forward again.

Wang Yansheng had already rushed into the Qingshi Street. Although he was surrounded by a group of Khitan soldiers, a strange knife in his hand flashed a series of cold lights among the Khitan soldiers. Those who broke into the knife light must have had flesh and blood. Although there were many Khitan soldiers, they could not get close to the sword light. With dozens of soldiers in Wang Yansheng's land, the entire army was gone. The Khitan soldiers who had no retreat showed the courage of the nomadic people. They carried guns and rods, killed dozens of people with more and less, like cutting melons and vegetables. Only the leading general was really fierce. He injured more than twenty people, but still did not hold him.

The Khitan generals have regarded the Zhou army as dead. Surrounded by the Khitan soldiers, with their ability to be alone, they can't last long. The most concerned thing about how long the Khitan archers can withstand it. Each Khitan archer has two quiver pots on them. In order to block the large number of Zhou troops, the archers are not pitying the arrows, but are just shooting arrows desperately. The archers have already shot a quiver and are shooting the second quiver pot. If the arrow branches are used up, they may have to fight with the Zhou army in the death row.

The Khitan general withdrew his gaze and turned his head to look at the Zhou general who broke into the Khitan army formation without any objection. The Zhou general looked like a crazy tiger, and a sword was not leaking, like an indestructible city wall. More than 30 Khitan soldiers had fallen under the sword of his land. The Khitan general had already put away his contempt, took the bow and arrow, and shot at Wang Yansheng.

The Khitan general was named Han Delang. He looked extremely calm and had a thick beard, just like a veteran general in the army. In fact, he was less than 20 years old. He came from a Khitan family. His grandfather Han Zhigu was appointed as the Zhongshuling. His father Han Kuangsi died in the southwest to recruit envoys and was named King of Qin. When Han Delang was eighteen, he followed Yelu Shulu to Qiying Mountain to hunt, and killed a tiger with one arrow and was named "Architecture General" by the Liao master Yelu Shulu. At the age of nineteen, he came to Youzhou to lead troops.

Wang Yansheng was also complaining at this time. In the fierce battle, he used his ancestral sword technique to kill dozens of Liao people. Now he has been shot in his waist and legs, and his strength is about to end. However, he cannot stop at all. If he slows down his movements, he will be dismembered by the angry Khitan soldiers.

An iron arrow broke through the air and headed straight to Wang Yansheng's back.

Just then, in order to avoid the spear's piercing, Wang Yansheng shot the iron arrow straight into Wang Yansheng's back to the left. The moment Wang Yansheng was caught, his whole body suddenly froze. A Khitan army took the opportunity to break into Modao's defense line, holding a rare pointed iron rod in the Khitan army, and smashed Wang Yansheng at the head.

When the iron rod was about to touch the face, Wang Yansheng's body moved slightly. The iron rod smashed from Wang Yansheng's face with the sound of wind, only a finger away from the tip of his nose. Wang Yansheng's eyes did not blink, and the Mo knife in his hand waved from the bottom to the top. The Mo knife was a double-edged sharp knife, and one of the blades had cut the throat of the Khitan soldiers.

When the Khitan soldiers fell down, Wang Yansheng was stabbed again in the back. Fortunately, he was wearing extremely solid chain mail, otherwise this knife would have cut his back.

At this moment, the Khitan army was in chaos. Although the Zhou cavalry was blocked by the Khitan archers, their retreat was blocked by a fire and could not retreat, so they had to rush forward. They stepped on their companions' bodies and finally rushed to the bluestone street along the base of the city wall and captured them with the Khitan soldiers.

After Wang Yansheng's long battle, he had already lost his will. After Zhou army rushed over, he felt his spirits provoked. He roared hard, swept the sword round and swept to the left.

Modao was developed from the Western Han Dynasty's horse-killing sword. It is an important equipment of the Tang army's infantry and is most conducive to group battles. This Modao is more than two meters long and can be cut or stabbed. Wang Yansheng's ancestor was Modao's hand in the Tang army's Li Siye's department. There are good players in the family who are good at using Modao from generation to generation. After Wang Yansheng's hand, he has been promoted and become the number one master in using Modao among the 120,000 imperial guards.

Under Wang Yansheng's fearless assault, a gap appeared in the encirclement of the Khitan soldiers, but there was a light of fire at the gap. The Khitan army and the Iron Cavalry had already mixed together. However, Wang Yansheng was no longer able to fight again at this time. He jumped suddenly and jumped into the sea of ​​fire.
Chapter completed!