Zheng Xiong very much hopes that his opponent will come out of the city.

Due to years of accumulation, the army of the Song Dynasty had considerable experience in defending the city. The enemies facing him were, after all, once part of the army of the Song Dynasty.

In this world, the most difficult things to fight are not the so-called super big cities. The bigger the city is, the more people are guarding it, which means there will be more loopholes. As long as you have the patience to find them, and even work hard to create them,

There are always opportunities.

But a purely military fortress like Shentangbao is the place that generals are least willing to attack.

Because such a fortress exists for only one purpose, and that is to fight. All its designs are to effectively kill and injure attacking enemies.

If you want to capture such a military fortress, the price you need to pay is too high.

But if you want to defeat the Western Army and set foot on Hengshan, Shentang Fort must be captured.

The large-scale siege trebuchet from the craftsman's camp in the capital opened Zheng Xiong's horizons.

This was the first time he had seen such a counterweighted trebuchet, and the first time he had seen a trebuchet that could throw hundreds of kilograms of boulders over such a long distance.

Although the accuracy is still open to question and the launch speed is extremely slow, as long as one hits, the damage caused to the enemy is extremely considerable.

Of the two hits previously, one directly destroyed half of the city gate tower of Shentang Castle, and the other smashed a horse wall and the battlements in front of it to pieces. Perhaps there was already a huge attack on the city wall.

If you hit a few more cracks, you might be able to bring down the city wall.

The enemy is bound to come out. If they don't find a way to destroy this large trebuchet and let the Song army continue to smash it outside, they will eventually break the city wall.

There are only more than 3,000 defenders in the city.

No matter how brave you are, one person will die or the other will die.

As long as they are willing to come out, it will always be much better than if they stay within the city wall to deal with the attackers.

Zheng Xiong laid a trap and then sat firmly on the Diaoyutai, waiting for the defenders in the city to come out.

The enemy did come out.

Even though they clearly knew that there was a trap waiting for them ahead, they still had to jump in.

Five hundred people!

Five hundred men in armor.

That equipment made Zheng Xiong jealous.

The Ban Zhi in front of the emperor was probably at this level, and Xiao Ding was really willing to spend money.

Large shields on the outside, spears in the back, and crossbowmen, a pretty decent offensive lineup.

Under the city, the Song army avoided a road, which led directly to the huge trebuchet.

A concave-shaped formation was placed in front of the Western Army leaving the city.

Will you come or not?

Once you come, I'm afraid you won't be able to go back.

If you don't come, you can only watch me slowly smash you. If you boil a frog on a low fire, you can still be slowly boiled to death.

"The Western Army is so brave that no one has ever seen them. They will definitely rush over." Under the banner of the Chinese Army, Zheng Xiong smiled and said to the captain in charge of the flag beside him.

"As long as they come here, their whole body will be made of iron, and they will be polished off layer by layer!" said the captain in charge of the flag.

"Thanks to this trebuchet! Otherwise, this kid Li Yi has always been in the city, and I really can't do anything about him." Zheng Xiong looked at the huge machine in front of him: "The craftsman camp in the capital is still like this after all.

The most brilliant craftsmen in the world don’t know how many good things are hidden in the imperial city.”

"Li Yi is just one of Xiao Ding's soldiers. He has little knowledge, so he is no match for you, general!" The captain in charge of the flag flattered him.

Zheng Xiong was silent. He did not compare with Xing Xing and Li Yi. After all, he was also a Jinshi and had led troops for many years. The word "Confucianism" applied to him was not bad at all.

The five hundred Western Army is indeed in a difficult situation.

Every step forward costs several lives.

Their target was about a hundred steps in front of the trebuchet.

Once at this place, they can use the ballistae to shoot out the deadly weapon.

The Ba Niu Crossbow has an effective shooting range of four hundred steps. Unfortunately, the Ba Niu Crossbow cannot be moved at all. But this kind of easy-to-move crossbow has a range of only about a hundred steps, and that damn huge trebuchet,

The range actually exceeds 800 steps.

The Western Army had to sacrifice their lives to escort the ballistas to within range.

Forward, forward again.

The formation is getting thinner and thinner.

But they are getting closer and closer to their goal.

Zheng Xiong stood up and narrowed his eyes. He saw the crossbow in the team.

What can a ballista do?

Zheng Xiong doesn't know.

But since the Western Army had to pay such a heavy price to come forward, they must have their reasons.

"Stop them, don't allow them to take another step forward!" Zheng Xiong said coldly.

The flag was waved, and more Song troops gathered densely.

At this time, the formation of the Western Army suddenly changed. The previous square army was transformed into a cone-shaped offensive formation. The sudden change of formation allowed the Song Army to attack in an instant.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, the Western Army immediately advanced another dozen steps inside.

Enough!

The ballistae wielded the mallet and struck the machine of the ballistae hard.

The sky-shattering thunder with burning sparks flew towards the huge guy a hundred steps away.

For insurance, Li Yi tied two thunderbolts together.

He only has three thunderbolts in total.

The thick crossbow arrow, carrying two thunderbolts, was inserted into the huge base of the trebuchet with a snap. Everyone's eyes fell on the last short fuse.

The so-called gunpowder weapons are not unfamiliar to the master craftsmen from the craftsman camp in the capital.

It's just that the lethality of that thing is very limited.

Some armies of the Song Dynasty were equipped with this thing. The most famous one is the swarm of bees. However, once it is lit, it cannot control its direction at all. Even if it flies there, even if it explodes, it is more for scaring the horses.

, there are also those with poisonous smoke inside.

No one cares about this stuff.

Only Zheng Xiong took a deep breath.

The Western Army spent hundreds of lives to deliver something that was worthless but useless!

Then, he heard a thunder explosion.

The sun is shining brightly in the sky!

Such was the case.

Huge thick smoke rose, mixed with the roars and screams of countless people.

Zheng Xiong felt his ears ringing. The soldiers around him rushed forward to protect him firmly with their shields. When he lifted the shield and stood up, he saw several stumps and a head.

It landed less than two steps away from him.

The noisy battlefield suddenly became quiet after this thunderbolt.

Everyone's eyes were looking towards the direction of the explosion.

Only the group of Western troops who came out of the city turned around and went back to fight when the crossbow arrows were inserted into the trebuchet. Even after the explosion, they did not look back at all.

After all, their ears had been stuffed with straw dumplings in advance, so such a vibration would not have much impact on them who were already mentally prepared.

The trebuchet is missing.

The huge machine was blown into pieces.

The people within ten steps of the trebuchet were either turned into pieces along with the trebuchet, or they were lying a little further away bleeding from their orifices.

It didn't look like there was any external injury, but in fact, the internal organs might have been shattered.

There were still more than 200 Western troops left and rushed all the way to the city. The Song army outside the city seemed to be blown out of their bodies by the explosion. Unexpectedly, no one of the troops attacked them in succession. This was originally a good way to break the city.

If there is a chance, even if they cannot enter the city, they can at least inflict huge damage to the Western troops leaving the city.

But the loud noise made them completely confused.

"Ming Jin, withdraw the troops!" Zheng Xiong gave the order with a livid face.

Looking at the Song army gradually retreating, bursts of cheers came from the Shentang Fort.

Kao Kao Village was an extremely important military stronghold for the Song Army. When the Western Army retreated, this was the only place that wanted to hold on and refused to give up. The Song Army spent a lot of effort to completely drive away the Western Army here.

After leaving, thousands of troops brought from Huainan are now stationed here.
To be continued...