Chapter Seventy-Five: Reinforcements at the South Gate

  "Ahh!" A shrill and mournful cry came from the direction of the stairs in the lower city.

  The first soldier who fled was killed by Tien Lieu-ku, who stood on the city wall directing the battle.

  Tian Liangqiu, who had just beheaded the fleeing soldier, held up the bloody head in his hand and roared at the soldiers on the city wall: "If there are any cowards who retreat without a fight or flee in battle, they will be killed without pardon!"

  The soldiers who fled first were beheaded in public, and those who hesitated were intimidated. Seeing the soldiers beside Tian Liangqiu who were ready to enforce battlefield discipline, those who wanted to escape stopped in their tracks. Several people who had thrown down their weapons and tried to slip away quietly picked up their weapons again and rejoined the ranks under the commander's orders.

  The beheading of the fleeing soldiers temporarily intimidated the troops, and for a moment no one dared to escape. The rebel soldiers who came up in succession were killed again, countless ladders were pushed down, and more arrows were shot out after a strong gust of wind blew over and the rain stopped temporarily. Many rebel soldiers were shot down, and the crisis that suddenly appeared due to the floating military morale was immediately resolved in this direction.

  A similar situation also occurred in the formation of Wang Silie's troops, where some timid soldiers saw more and more rebels under the city, and they were afraid. Although there were orders from their superiors to stop them, they were so frightened that they threw down their weapons and wanted to escape. After several soldiers who ran away first were beheaded, the unstable morale of the army temporarily stabilized.

  Geshu Han, who was directing the overall situation of the war from the top of the city gate tower in the direction of the south gate, also saw all this and was anxious.

  He had a reserve of five hundred men around him, but he knew it was not yet time to throw these five hundred brave and skilled soldiers into the emergency.

  The rebel's siege has just begun, as long as the generals at all levels can calm the military, they should be able to withstand the continuous siege of the rebels. If they can't hold on now, the rebels only need a small number of soldiers to rush up to the city head and send out the last reserve team, then how can this battle be fought?

  Ge Shuhan's worry was the instability of the military, he was fully aware of the extent to which the military was unstable after the defeat at Lingbao. These defeated soldiers would likely think of fleeing if the rebels attacked fiercely. Their lives were saved only because they escaped quickly, and if not for being forced to stay in Tongguan, many soldiers might have already fled towards Chang'an.

  It's now up to the commanders at all levels to suppress them. If the commanders perform well, lead by example and kill the enemy, then the unstable military morale may be stabilized. Those who are afraid of battle must be killed; if they are allowed to escape, a chain reaction will immediately occur, with more soldiers throwing down their weapons and running away.

  Iron-fisted means are effective, cowards who flee will die, those who stay on the city walls to fight may survive, and even the most timid soldiers will reconsider their choices, unless they cannot withstand the rebels' large-scale siege.

  Keshan anxiously lifted his head to look at the sky, hoping that this thunderstorm would stop soon.

  The wind has stopped and the rain has ceased. The twelve rows of city soldiers on the city wall can now use their bows and arrows to maximum effect, and the situation will improve.

  But the rain seemed to have no signs of stopping, after a short while, it started pouring again, even heavier than before. The fog blown by strong winds spread further and soon the situation in the valley became invisible again.

  "Report the situation at the south gate to General Yang and investigate the situation at the east gate!" Geshu Han's heart was sighing, but he was still calm when giving orders.

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  In the heavy rain and fog, Yang Hui standing on the east gate tower could not see the battle situation in the south and north gates. However, he believed that although the strong wind and rain brought trouble to our army's defense, there should be no danger now, and Geshu Han and his men, including Wang Silie, Pang Zhong, Tian Liangqiu, and Li Fude, should be able to block the rebel army outside the city.

  Looking at the rain curtain in the sky, he couldn't help but sigh. He had thought about the possibility of rain before, and he knew that thunderstorms were common during the summer months, whether in the south or north. However, after finding out that there hadn't been any large-scale, long-lasting thunderstorms with strong winds around Tongguan recently, he didn't pay much attention to this situation anymore, and didn't even discuss with his generals how to defend against the enemy's attack when the storm arrived.

  Many generals did not mention this aspect of the proposal. Generally, people think that when it rains heavily, the rebel army will not attack the city.

  Even if the rebels attacked the city during the rain, they would stop fighting and wait for the weather to clear up before resuming battle. However, unexpectedly, the rebel's attack did not cease with the arrival of the heavy rain, but instead intensified after seeing that our army's arrow strikes were significantly weakened. This not only shocked the various generals but also made Yang Hui worried and concerned.

  He had never experienced war in the era of cold weapons before and was unclear about the specific impact of wind and rain on both offense and defense.

  If he were to imagine, he would definitely think that the strong wind and heavy rain would be more unfavorable for the attacking side, and beneficial for the defending side. After all, the attacking side has to overcome the impact of the terrain, and if it rains, they also have to overcome the adverse weather conditions. Only after overcoming these unfavorable factors can they effectively attack the city.

  Heavy wind and rain, the arrows shot from under the city will definitely not cause much harm to the soldiers on the city wall, this is something Yang Hui can be certain of.

  While the defenders have many unnecessary factors to overcome, they can wait for the attackers on the city wall with ease and counterattack the attacking army below without any worries. The attacking side should stop attacking in bad weather conditions!

  But unexpectedly, after the heavy rain started, the rebels not only did not stop attacking the city, but instead increased their attack intensity in all directions. This situation clearly and unmistakably told him that the rebels were taking advantage of the arrival of the heavy rain to launch a fierce attack on the city head when the killing power of the arrows on the city head was reduced.

  The east gate direction, due to the small attack surface, was blocked by cliffs on both sides, and the impact of wind and rain was relatively smaller compared to the south gate direction. The killing power of arrows also didn't decrease much, and the rebels who were blocked by corpses and wounded people on the road didn't have many opportunities to strengthen their offensive. Yang Hui wasn't worried about a crisis occurring in the east gate direction. However, when the rain subsided and the wind started to pick up, after the fog dispersed, he saw the situation at the south gate direction, which made him extremely shocked.

  The Jin Gou Tian Xian outside the South Gate has almost become a thoroughfare, with several obvious "bridges" of piled-up corpses becoming a passage for rebel soldiers to cross the river.

  Seeing this situation, Yang Jie knew that he had to reinforce the South Gate immediately. The situation in the East Gate direction was much better than the South Gate, and he wanted to reduce the defensive forces in the East Gate direction to reinforce the South Gate and prevent it from being lost. He also immediately summoned Li Chengguang and Gao Shi to his side.

  "Generals Li and Gao, the defense of the east gate is entrusted to you two. The south gate is in a precarious situation, and I will lead a contingent of troops to reinforce it!" Yang Hui patted Li Chengguang and Gao Shi's shoulders and said with emotion: "The east gate is extremely difficult for the rebels to breach, with the two of you in command, it is certain that you can withstand the rebel attack. But the Ban Gou pass has already fallen, and the south gate is easily occupied by the rebels. I can only personally lead the household troops and reserve forces to reinforce it!"

  "Yes, Marshal! As long as I, Li Shou, am here, the rebel army will not set foot on the city wall even half a step!" Li Chengguang and Gao Shi almost responded in unison.