Chapter Seventy-One: A Heavy Rain

  The wind showed no signs of decreasing at all, but instead grew stronger and stronger. The dark clouds in the sky began to churn rapidly, and soon the sky darkened.

  The wind blows from various mountain passes without any regularity, sometimes blowing in one direction and then suddenly sweeping in another.

  Tongguan City is a big wind tunnel, and the wind force is much stronger than that on flat ground. In severe convective weather conditions, the wind force is even greater, at least 10 levels or more if there is a wind force rating.

  The tiles on the city gate tower were blown down by the wind, and some small trees were broken by the wind.

  The soldiers on the city wall were blown east and west, many soldiers couldn't stand firm, and even collided with each other.

  The blowing dust and sand also blurred people's eyes, and even their eyes couldn't be opened wide. The bow in hand was not easy to hold, let alone aim, and the arrows shot out were not the usual parabola, but fluttered randomly, and the killing effect of the arrows decreased exponentially.

  This made any general commanding on the city wall sigh, with the killing effect of arrows and crossbow bolts reduced so much, the number of rebels rushing over would definitely increase, and those who climbed up the west bank of the moat would also increase exponentially. If the number of rebels climbing up the west bank of the moat increased greatly, more and more cloud ladders would be placed on the city wall of Tongguan, and more and more rebel soldiers would start to climb the city. This was what the generals defending the city did not want to see.

  Arrows cannot effectively kill the enemy, and can only use wooden boards, rolling stones, and swords to strike the rebels who climb the city, but this effect is definitely not as good as large-scale archery. If you want to fight with swords, it's a white-blade battle.

  Engaging in a white-blade battle with the enemy would definitely put them at a disadvantage due to their smaller numbers.

  Everyone just hopes the wind will blow a little smaller, and don't let it rain. They would rather be scorched by the sun.

  The wind brought relief from the heat, and some moisture made people feel cool. The rebels also felt this way, and it was equally beneficial to both sides. However, arrows could not be shot effectively, which almost dealt a fatal blow to the Tang army defending the city.

  Under the current situation, it's roughly like the defenders on the city wall shooting arrows at the rebels attacking the city. Even if the rebels have the ability to shoot arrows, they can't pose a great threat to the defenders on the city wall. After all, one is shooting downwards and the other upwards, with a huge difference in lethality due to gravity. Standing inside the moat, they can't even reach the top of the city wall.

  But heaven won't help people, it's helpless, can only overcome, the arrow is still to be shot, regardless of whether there is an effect, how much damage, this is a killer move that can be taken out. In Tongguan City, arrows are not scarce, at the consumption rate just now, more than 10,000 people can use them for at least one month, or even longer. After all, it's rare to use arrows at such high density as before, if you keep going at this speed, the tens of thousands of troops attacking the city can be shot and killed in a few days, as long as the Tang army soldiers don't exhaust their strength.

  "Prepare the war knife!" King Si-li, who had ordered a group of soldiers to abandon their bows and use knives, swung out his own war knife while loudly commanding the soldiers to prepare to kill the enemy with knives.

  At the entrance, there were already groups of rebel soldiers climbing up the west bank of the Forbidden Canal in various ways, and more soldiers were rushing over from behind. Wang Silie knew that the most critical moment was about to arrive.

  According to his estimate, it should have started after dark, not now, which is about two hours earlier than expected.

  Originally, Wang Silie was very confident in defending Tongguan City until nightfall when the reinforcements arrived. His confidence wavered a bit. If they continued to fight with the enemy in this way, it was unknown whether the physical strength of the soldiers under him could hold out until the reinforcements arrived. But now he couldn't show any signs of retreat or fear, and had to find ways to boost morale and repel the enemy's attack on the city.

  Yang Kai naturally saw the sharp decline in the killing power of the arrows shot from the city head, but the rebel army's attack intensity did not decrease at all, and instead had a strengthening trend. He was more anxious than anyone else.

  Of course, what he was worried about wasn't the east gate direction.

  The east gate direction is because the horizontal section that can be boarded on the city wall is small, even in strong winds and heavy rains, the number of rebels who can board the city will not be many. There are also several cliffs to block the wind, and the arrows still have lethal power when the rebels rush to the bottom of the city head. With the current military strength, it is enough to defend against the rebel attack. What he worries about is the south gate direction. The south gate direction has deployed the most troops, with around 8,000, but facing the continuous siege of tens of thousands of rebels, the troops are still at an absolute disadvantage. However, he no longer has many troops that can be reinforced unless a large number of reinforcements arrive.

  Where is the reinforcement? When can we arrive at Tongguan City?

  Yang Hui let out a long sigh in her heart! According to the urgent report received just now, Du Hua's 3,000 cavalry was still about 50 miles away from Tongguan City. They were exhausted and couldn't rush to reinforce at top speed. Without any unexpected situations, it would take them more than two hours to arrive at Tongguan City. Now a strong wind had started, and it might rain heavily soon, which would definitely delay their arrival in Tongguan.

  "I hope the soldiers will unite and fight to the death, not allowing the rebel army to climb over the city wall!" Yang Hui muttered to himself, and immediately ordered his personal guard captain Yang Dong to gather all the guards' families, and when necessary, he would lead this private army, along with 500 reserve soldiers, to reinforce the southern gate.

  Chui Qianyou, standing on the west bank of the Jin Gou River, also saw that the arrows shot from the city head were blown off by the wind, greatly reducing the killing power of his own army. Overjoyed, he immediately gave orders to strengthen the offensive in all directions, whether it was the east gate or the north gate direction, not allowing any troops to be withdrawn to reinforce these two gate directions. The south gate direction was even more concentrated with all its forces, continuously attacking without giving the Tang army on the city head any chance to breathe.

  "Order all generals to speed up the attack, no matter what the cost is, we must rush to the top of Tongguan City! "Cui Qianyou, wielding his battle knife, roared at the deputy generals and soldiers beside him: "Whoever is the first to climb to the top of the city wall will be promoted three ranks, rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver, and I will personally ask for credit from His Majesty!"

  "Kill... pull..." The deputy generals, soldiers and bodyguards beside Cui Qianyou all followed suit, waving their battle knives and roaring with anger.

  Originally, the weather and terrain were all in the hands of the Tang army, but now, the weather has turned against them. The strong winds blowing wildly and the impending heavy rain are tools for their success. The Tang army, having lost the advantage of arrows, cannot stop their continuous attacks no matter what.

  Nearly a thousand people have dodged the Tang army's arrows and climbed up the western bank of the Forbidden Channel, setting up cloud ladders against the city wall.

  The wind continued to blow fiercely, knocking down the ladders that had been set up, but more ladders were brought up against the city walls.

  Lightning and thunder are getting more frequent, clouds are pressing lower and lower, and the sky is getting darker.

  At last, amidst a series of thunderclaps and flashes of lightning, a torrential downpour came pouring from the sky!