Chapter 66: The Feeling of Death

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  In terms of city defense, both Wang Silie and Tian Liangqiu, Pang Zhong, etc. are very experienced.

  The rebel army's attack on Tongguan City has lasted for about six months, during which time there have been at least hundreds of battles. Even if the generals had no experience in this type of warfare before, they have accumulated a lot of experience over the past few months. Not to mention that these generals are all from the military and have risen through the ranks by stepping on countless soldiers' corpses, their combat experience is extremely rich and not at all inferior to that of the rebel army's generals who specialize in attacking cities. No matter what formation the rebels deploy, they can respond accordingly based on the actual situation.

  The rebel army began to attack in a dense and continuous formation, not in batches or intermittently. The generals commanding the battle on the city wall, such as Geshu Han, Wang Silie, and Tian Quliang, immediately judged from the way the rebels started attacking that they were eager to capture the head of Suizhong Pass. They no longer adopted the tactic of consuming the physical strength and arrows of the soldiers on the city wall with a small number of troops in batches, but instead wanted to rely on their absolute advantage in military strength to exhaust the defenders' physical strength with continuous attacks, and finally capture the head of Suizhong Pass at all costs.

  The rebels must have known that reinforcements from Chang'an had arrived in Tongguan and more troops were continuously arriving. The rebels did not want to encounter even more defenders, so they took advantage of the momentum of their victory at Lingbao and launched a fierce attack on Tongguan before the main force of reinforcements could arrive. They wanted to win quickly and decisively.

  The pseudo "Great Yan" crown prince An Qingxu led an army of 150,000 men. According to the rebel general captured in yesterday's ambush battle, An Lushan has already led 180,000 troops to reinforce quickly. Whether it is An Qingxu or An Lushan, they are determined to capture Tongguan and Chang'an, regardless of any losses.

  With this understanding, any Tang army commander who directed the battle felt very heavy-hearted, knowing that the next battle would be extremely difficult to fight.

  However, the rebels had just begun to attack the city, and Geshu Han, Wang Silie, Tian Liangqiu and other main generals were not very worried. They knew that the rebel army's initial attack could be easily repelled, and the key was how long the defenders' physical strength could last, whether they could hold on until the arrival of reinforcements.

  "The archers will start shooting!" Wang Silie gave a calm order.

  At his command, over a thousand soldiers held their bows at the ready above their heads. Then, with a very powerful "Release" order, the continuous sound of arrows breaking through the air spread across the city walls. Over a thousand arrows wove together into a rain of arrows, flying towards the rebels who had already rushed to the bottom of the moat and were preparing to climb up the western bank of the moat as well as those rebel soldiers still continuously rushing into the moat.

  Only a small number of shields were raised to block the arrows that were about to fall, but many rebel soldiers didn't even have the chance to raise their shields in defense. They were either shouting and rushing into the trench or lowering their heads to avoid the uneven stones inside the trench. Some were setting up ladders to climb, and they didn't even notice when the arrows came down. The rebel soldiers stood very densely packed, and there weren't enough shields to block them, which allowed the Tang army's arrows to inflict almost maximum casualties. With a wave of mournful cries, many soldiers were hit by arrows and fell into the trench. Those who were rushing from the east bank into the trench after being shot turned over in a somersault.

  The lethality of arrows is actually not very high, and it cannot be compared with the bullets of the firearms era. As long as you don't hit a vital spot, you basically won't die from one arrow. Those who are unfortunately killed by one arrow are almost all shot in a vital spot.

  However, the trench was very deep, and some soldiers who fell down were killed instantly.

  Zhao Long was a school lieutenant under Feng Changqing, who followed Feng Changqing to defend Dongjing Luoyang. After the defeat and capture of the army, he immediately surrendered to the rebel army. He and his soldiers were incorporated into Cui Gan's command and participated in the attack on Tongguan and the subsequent Lingbao War. In the Battle of Lingbao, he made military achievements and was promoted to the rank of Langjiang, and also received some monetary rewards.

  After being promoted and rewarded, Zhao Long naturally devoted himself to the rebel army and hoped for further promotion and more rewards. His thoughts were the same as many soldiers: being a soldier was about fighting battles and getting rewards, and it didn't matter who they fought under. If the Tang army won, they would capture them, and they might turn around and become part of the Tang army again, shooting deadly arrows at the "Great Yan" army they had once been loyal to.

  This is the commonality of soldiers in this era. During civil wars, there will be situations where large numbers of soldiers surrender, even multiple times, like a weather vane. Even in foreign wars, after defeat, there are also situations where batches of soldiers surrender to the other side and can immediately fight for them.

  Zhao Longting had combat experience, and when he saw the arrows flying quickly into the gorge, he immediately raised the shield in his hand and shrunk his body to hide under a rock. His evasive action made him successfully avoid the first round of arrow attacks by the Tang army.

  Just as they were rejoicing, the second wave of Tang army arrows came flying through the air. Zhao Long, who had just stood up to take a look around, was knocked off balance by a comrade who fell from the rock wall above and lost his grip on his shield, which dropped to the ground, causing him to stumble.

  Tragedy struck at this moment, as the second wave of arrows from the Tang army descended rapidly, with two arrows hitting Zhao Long's body.

  One arrow shot into his arm and another into the soft flesh of his belly, hitting a major blood vessel.

  He only felt a cool breeze spreading from his abdomen to his back, followed by a strong surge of heat gushing out from the arrow wound. Immediately, all his strength seemed to be drained away, and he could no longer hold onto the war knife in his hand, which clattered to the ground with a loud clang. His body then went limp and fell forward. As his body fell, the arrow that had only been half-inserted was almost entirely pushed into his body, with the arrowhead protruding from his back.

  Zhao Long let out a mournful cry again, and blood gushed out from both sides of his abdomen like a fountain. His two small eyes suddenly widened in terror as he stared at the blue sky above. The clouds in the sky were rapidly swirling, and the Tongguan City in front of him quickly turned upside down, with its city walls facing downwards. The nearby Huashan peaks also turned upside down, with their heads buried in the ground. Then a layer of white, floating colors drifted before his eyes, and his body became light, flying up into a narrow passageway. Suddenly everything was bright, and then he knew nothing!