Chapter 142

  Jing Cheng's knife directly knocked the barbarian general unconscious, and the Dark Arrow members quickly surrounded him. They stuffed the dispersing spirit pill into the barbarian general's mouth while taking out a rope to tightly bind him up.

  The barbarians were captured alive, and the heavy armored cavalry lost their commander's command, causing even more chaos. They had no way to deal with the rolling wind army on the ground, and could only watch as their companions fell off their war horses one after another.

  On the other hand, Besa's army was still unclear about the situation in the city, only hearing that there was a great chaos inside Changcheng City, with shouts and killings filling the sky. The commander-in-chief of Besa's army did not hesitate any longer, and with one order, the whole army launched a surprise attack and began to besiege the city.

  This time, the Besa army invested most of its forces, attacking from all sides, and the cloud ladder they brought also made changes to deal with the moat of the city wall. The Besa army extended the cloud ladder, even if it was put into the moat, it could still make the cloud ladder reach the top of the city wall.

  It was thought that with the heavy armored cavalry of our own side in the city, the defenders would be thrown into great disorder, but as soon as the attack began, they were met with a fierce counterattack from the plain army on the city wall. The arrows flew like locusts, dense as raindrops, and large numbers of barbarian soldiers fell to the ground in the charge.

  After great difficulty in approaching the city, they were met with a hail of sticks and stones, causing countless casualties among the barbarian troops. The bodies piled up like mountains, and blood flowed like rivers.

  At night, it is not suitable for attacking the city. The visibility is insufficient, and the situation cannot be seen clearly. Often, the soldiers in front are retreating, while the personnel behind are still charging forward, colliding with each other, trampling on each other, causing the entire camp to become chaotic. As a result, more barbarian soldiers were killed or injured by arrows.

  At the time when the barbarian troops had been attacking for a long time without breaking through, and the morale of the soldiers was low, on the front wall of the city of Heng, the captured heavy armored cavalry commander and the heavy armored cavalrymen below were pushed to the top of the city. These heavy armored cavalrymen, who used to be arrogant, had lost their former glory, their armor had been stripped off by the Wind Army, and they were tied up in a row, naked, like defeated roosters, weakly hanging their heads.

  Seeing this scene, the barbarian army was in an uproar. Originally, they had pinned their hopes on these heavily armored cavalrymen, but who would have thought that they would become someone else's prisoners?

  General Besa was shocked and disappointed, at this time, continuing to attack would be useless, it would only increase their own casualties. He ordered the entire army to temporarily retreat back to their original position and suspend the siege.

  The barbarian army's large-scale attack on the city was unsuccessful and they retreated, during which they inevitably suffered another pursuit by the Pingyuan army, with countless casualties among their soldiers.

  At this time, there was no longer any optimism in the barbarian army camp. When they came, they thought that their own 200,000-strong army would be able to sweep away Pingyuan County with just one march, but the actual situation was far from being so smooth. Just a small town of Hengcheng, it didn't work out whether they attacked openly or launched a surprise attack, and after repeated setbacks, the morale of the Besa army plummeted.

  Besa's commander also abandoned his original plan for a quick battle, and ordered the construction of an altar in the military camp, which could be used for prayer and to pay respects to the spirits of fallen soldiers on the battlefield. The barbarian troops worked with astonishing efficiency, completing the high-altitude altar in just one day.

  The second day after the completion of the Divine Platform, in the early morning, the barbarian army's siege resumed.

  This time, the barbarian army did not charge forward fiercely, but instead advanced step by step. Many barbarian soldiers held up iron shields, and from a distance, the shields formed a continuous sheet, creating a huge circular mirror around the city of Heng, reflecting the sunlight that pierced the eyes.

  The enemy's siege has come again, and the Pingyuan army still uses arrows first. However, for the barbarian soldiers with shields, the lethality of the arrows has been greatly reduced. Seeing that the arrow shooting did not have the effect of killing the enemy soldiers, Xiao Muzhen immediately ordered to stop shooting arrows and save arrows. They no longer shot arrows, but the barbarian soldiers' arrow shooting came instead.

  When the barbarian army advanced within range, the raised shields fell down one after another, and then a hail of arrows shot towards the city head.

  This round of arrows shot out beyond the expectations of the Pingyuan army, who were unprepared and had soldiers knocked down in a row by the arrow shower. Soon, the Pingyuan army also raised their shields, taking advantage of the moment when the enemy lowered their shields to shoot arrows, and launched a preemptive strike. This move was effective, and the barbarian army's camp was thrown into chaos, with gaps opening up in their shield wall.

  Not giving the barbarian army any time to regroup, arrows rained down from the city walls, wherever there was a gap they shot at it, the miserable cries of the barbarian army below rose and fell.

  However, from start to finish, the barbarian army's advance did not slow down one step, trampling on the bodies of their companions, and forcibly advancing to the city wall. Then they set up a cloud ladder, and the soldiers threw away their shields, biting their swords with their teeth, using their hands and feet together, frantically climbing up the cloud ladder.

  The wooden logs were constantly falling down, the cloud ladder was occasionally pushed open by bamboo poles, and the barbarian soldiers continued to climb up regardless of life or death. The battle had also entered a white-hot stage at this point.

  The vast city of Heng, with its four-sided walls, every corner is a battleground. The Besa army's strong attack is like a tidal wave, one wave after another, unrelenting and continuous.

  The warriors on both sides of the battlefield, as the fighting intensified, their adrenal glands accelerated, almost all forgetting life and death, with only one thought left in their minds, to kill the enemy in front of them.

  The barbarian troops were as numerous as ants, covering the city walls with cloud ladders and ropes, and from time to time someone would wail and fall from mid-air. The plain army gritted their teeth and held firm, but from time to time someone would be shot by arrows from under the city, either falling face up or headfirst into the city wall. The corpses at the foot of the city piled up layer upon layer, and the four-meter-deep moat was almost filled with the bodies of soldiers from both sides.

  The fierce battle lasted from dawn to dusk, during which the barbarian troops broke through the defense line several times, killing their way onto the city wall, only to be repeatedly repelled by the Pingyuan army. The casualties on both sides continued to rise in a straight line.

  The sky was near night, and the barbarian army's attack finally came to an end. The exhausted barbarian soldiers retreated hastily after a day of fierce battle. At this time, the Pingyuan army on the city wall also stopped shooting arrows in pursuit. The barbarians were exhausted, but they were even more tired. As soon as the barbarians retreated, many Pingyuan soldiers had already collapsed on the city wall, exhausted and gasping for breath.

  After a whole day of fighting, the casualties of the Besa army exceeded 30,000, and the casualties of the Pingyuan army were close to 10,000. Of course, most of the casualties on both sides were wounded.

  In the evening, the civilians of Hengyang, organized by Shangguan Yongji, climbed onto the city wall and prepared food and a large amount of sugar water to replenish the energy of the Pingyuan army. Other civilians transported defensive equipment and filled up the rolling logs, stone mills, fire oil and other materials on the top of the wall. With the assistance of the civilians inside the city, the Pingyuan army saved a lot of physical strength and also got enough rest time.

  At this time, the role of the masses cannot be underestimated. Physical strength is crucial on the battlefield, which directly determines the life and death of soldiers on both sides as well as the outcome of the battle.

  Fighting against the ferocious and beast-like barbarian army was extremely arduous, but it was precisely this arduous training that gave the Plains Army its powerful combat strength. In later battles with other vassal states, they would never find an opponent as formidable as the Besa Army again.

  South City, Tower Building.

  Qiu Zhen, Xiao Muqing, Ai Jia and the five legion commanders were all gathered in the tower on the south city wall, gazing out at the distant barbarian army's camp. Everyone was silent.

  Strictly speaking, today can only be considered as the first head-on confrontation between the two sides, but with nearly 10,000 casualties on just the first day, how will the rest of the battle be fought?

  Everyone's mood is not relaxed.

  Qiu Zhen said with a faint smile: "I suppose the barbarian troops won't be using sneak attacks tonight."

  This doesn't need to be said, anyone can see that the barbarian army has been exhausted after a day of fierce attacks and it's impossible for them to launch another attack tonight, unless the commander of the barbarian army is crazy and no longer cares about the lives and deaths of his soldiers.

  Xiao Muqing stared at the Nanying camp outside the city, suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed to the camp, saying: "That should be where the barbarian army is hoarding grain!"

  "Oh?" The crowd followed the direction of his pointing, and under the dark sky, they could only vaguely see the outline of the barbarian army camp, unable to make out the specific situation.

  Before anyone could speak, Aika continued: "It should be here, I've been observing the barbarian army's grain storage location for the past few days and found that their grain is always pulled out from the south camp before being distributed to each camp."

  After hearing Ai Jia say that, Xiao Muqing became even more certain. He nodded his head and changed the subject, saying: "I have an idea!"

  "What's going on?" everyone asked in unison.

  "Tonight, the barbarian troops will not come to launch a surprise attack on us. Instead, I'd like to go and raid their camp!" Xiao Miaoqing said word by word, then looked around at everyone and asked: "What do you gentlemen think?"

  Everyone looked at each other, all with embarrassed expressions.

  Zhang Zhou forced a bitter smile, shaking his head and saying: "If the barbarian troops don't come to attack us, we should thank heaven and earth. But instead, we want to take the initiative to go out of the city and launch a surprise attack on the barbarian army's main camp. Isn't that looking for trouble, like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth?"

  Xiao Mucqing smiled slightly and said, "Yes! We take the initiative to attack the barbarian camp, no doubt it is a egg hitting a stone, I'm sure the barbarian army thinks so too, so the other side will definitely not be on guard. If our army can quietly send out a team tonight, taking advantage of the barbarian army's fatigue and rest, sneak into the barbarian army's southern camp, not seeking to kill the enemy, but only burning their grain and grass, it will surely succeed in one move. If we burn all the grain and grass of the barbarian army, the 200,000-strong army has nothing to eat or drink, I'm afraid they won't be able to hold on for long before withdrawing voluntarily!"

  When they heard this, everyone's heart was moved.

  Yes, Xiao Muqing's speculation also makes sense. The barbarian army would never have thought that their own camp would be raided by the enemy, and if they could succeed in one blow, the barbarian army's retreat would be imminent.

  Qiu Zhen carefully considered Xiao Muzheng's plan, thinking it over and feeling that it was feasible. He couldn't help but take another look at the southern camp of the barbarian army, and asked doubtfully: "Can we be certain that the barbarian army's grain is stored in the southern camp?"

  Xiao Muqing shook his head and said, "We don't have the ability to infiltrate the barbarian camp, so it's naturally impossible to determine whether they are hoarding grain or not. However, even if they aren't, we can still launch a surprise attack and scare them off. We can't just let the barbarian army camp outside our city of Hengcheng in peace!"

  Qiu Zhen nodded and looked around at the five battalion commanders before asking Xiao Muzheng, "So, General Xiao, how many troops do you think should be sent, and who should lead them?"

  Xiao Mqing thought for a moment and said, "I think the first and second battalions should each send 5,000 soldiers, led by General Zhang and General Bai respectively, to break through the enemy camp!"