"What are the rebels planning to do?"

A few days after the rebels' first siege failed, the second attack came again. This time the rebels changed their attack method, it was no longer a mindless attack where everyone swarmed forward.

. Instead, they formed a neat formation, and then the vanguard pushed forward carrying bundles of straw.

Although they could not understand what the rebels wanted to do, the generals who defended the city could only respond to changes by remaining unchanged and still ordered to fire arrows to snipe the enemy.

Then a rain of arrows began to fall on the top of Jianmenguan City again.

However, what the generals who defended the city did not expect was that under this attack of thousands of arrows, the rebels were still advancing steadily. Now the generals who defended the city were a little confused.

"No, their attack was easily blocked by arrows last time. How can they advance steadily despite the rain of arrows this time? Did any of you see clearly what happened underneath?"

"General, it seems that all our arrows have been inserted into the straw that the rebels are holding. There are very few casualties among the rebel soldiers under the straw." A soldier with good eyesight was the first to notice the abnormality of the rebels below.

The soldiers guarding the city were right. This was the new method the rebel generals came up with, which was to use bundles of straw to absorb the damage from arrows, so that the army could smoothly advance to the city.

In fact, the leading troops were not only carrying straw, but also had a layer of wooden shields at the bottom of the straw. The double protection allowed the rebels to approach Jianmen Pass smoothly step by step.

"General, why don't we try using rockets to see if we can light the straw?"

When the general who defended the city heard that this was a good idea, he ordered the soldiers at the top of the city to change their rockets and shoot at the straw below.

Although rockets began to be fired from the top of the city, the result was unexpected, because the rockets did not completely ignite the straw. After the rocket hit the straw, the entire straw did not burn as expected, but the flame went out. Then

Black smoke began to billow.

"You have Zhang Liangji, I have a wall ladder. Do you think I didn't expect you to use fire? The straw I use is damp, let me see how you burn it." After seeing the rockets extinguished on the straw,

, Zhang Yuzhi said proudly.

When preparing to use this method to attack the city, Zhang Yu and Wang Cormorant had already thought about what to do if the opponent used fire, so when they prepared the straw stack, they wetted all the straw.

It will be much heavier than dry straw at times, but it is much better in terms of fire protection.

Another key benefit of doing this is that once there is a fire, a large amount of black smoke will rise from the straw stacks, which will block the sight of the soldiers standing on the top of the city. In this way, the rebels can rely on

The smoke cover successfully reached the city.

Things went as Zhang Yu expected. Due to the obstruction of the large amount of smoke, the soldiers on the top of the city could not see clearly what was going on below the city.

The defenders who lost their sight could only fire arrows at the rebels, but just like at the beginning of the battle, all the arrows were stuck in the straw bales. The rebels successfully advanced to the city.

"Snapped."

Since the Battle of Jianmen, for the first time, a ladder was set up on the city wall of Jianmen Pass. Soon six or seven ladders were set up on the wall of Jianmen Pass one after another. The rebels who reached the wall threw them away.

After gathering straw, he held up his shield and began to climb the city.

"Let's change the rolling wood and stone."

After seeing the rebels begin to climb the city, the generals who defended the city were not so panicked. Although they were caught off guard by the rebels' strange moves before, the rebels were able to successfully advance to the city. But after the rebels advanced to the city, they unexpectedly

They didn't come up with any new tricks, they still followed the usual method of attacking the city with ladders, which would have been much easier to handle.

Since you are using traditional tricks, here are some ways to deal with them. The Rolling Wooden Stones that have been stored for a long time come into use at this moment.

As a large number of rolling logs and stones poured down, the number of casualties of the rebels began to increase suddenly, and the previously smooth advance also began to stall.

"Old Wang, Old Wang, something's not right, why can't we attack?" After seeing that the entire team came to a standstill after the attack reached the stage of ascending the city, and the casualties began to increase, the rebel generals also began to feel that something was wrong.

In fact, the entire rebel army has very little experience in siege warfare. Even though they captured almost the entire Shu area, one of the most important reasons why they were able to go so smoothly is that every time they start siege warfare, there are people in the city.

The people responded to the uprising, opened the city gates, and let the rebels enter the city.

So so far, the rebels don't have much actual experience in attacking cities. The reason why they can think of straw shields is because a large number of people were shot by arrows when they attacked Jianmen Pass for the first time. So.

For General Zhang and Wang, the inherent impression was that they could successfully attack the city after the arrow rain had successfully advanced to the city. However, what they did not expect was that the most difficult stage was actually the assault on the city.

"Lao Zhang, don't panic now, wait and see, we still have someone who can get up there."

Yes, after all, rolling logs and stones are not omnipotent. There are always rebels who can take advantage of the intermission between official and military throws to successfully climb the city tower. However, there are really too few such people. Those who successfully climb the city will basically face the consequences.

They were all the swords of the army. For the rebels who were sent away one by one, the army did not have any ambiguity and came to kill them one by one.

"Go up and shovel. Didn't you see that there were not many people who went up? Were all those who went up were immediately killed? Retreat first, how can we get rid of so many people who died?"

Seeing that the situation was really not right, Zhang Yu decisively gave the order to retreat.

After seeing the rebels retreating, the defender of Jianmen Pass let out a sigh of relief, because in fact, Jianmen Pass has been at the top for too long. After all, the rolling wood and rocks are limited. If the rebels really risk their lives and continue to attack, the most

In two hours, all the logs and stones stored in the pass will be exhausted, and there will not be many arrows left. At that time, the government troops will have no choice but to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the rebels at the top of the city.

In this way, the only ones who will be killed in the end are the official troops, after all, the number of rebels is too many.

Fortunately, the rebels were the first to be unable to withstand it, and the officers and soldiers finally got a chance to breathe again. However, what worries the officers and soldiers is that if the rebels attack before the reinforcements arrive, Jianmen Pass will really be able to withstand it.

Can't stand it any longer.

"Send people out as soon as possible to see if we can recover some arrows from the haystacks thrown by the rebels, and also see if there are any rolling logs and rocks that can still be used. We don't have much reserves now. Can we

A little saving is worth a little.”

It has been nearly forty years since the founding of the Song Dynasty. It is estimated that the most miserable generals defending the city are none other than the current Jianmen defenders.

The battle had reached this level, and in fact, he had tried his best even if Jianmen was lost.

…

"General Li, there is another news from Jianmen Pass. The rebels launched a second attack two days ago. Although they still failed to capture Jianmen Pass, the Jianmen defenders can no longer support it. General Wang

Rapid reinforcements."

Hearing the scout's report, Li Jiguang also looked helpless. It wasn't that he didn't want to go fast, but that he couldn't go fast. Five days ago, news came from Hanzhong that Zhao Weiji's army had arrived in Hanzhong and was preparing to march towards Jianmen.

, I hope Li Jiguang can quickly provide support to Jianmen.

Both sides were urging Li Jiguang, but Li Jiguang had already exhausted all his abilities at this moment, and there was really nothing he could do.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, I want to hurry too, but the problem is that we can't go fast on such a mountain road. Old Ding, how long does it take to get to Jianmen Pass?"

This old Ding was the Hanzhong veteran who had been guiding Li Jiguang. His answer was: "It's almost time. We will be able to reach Jianmen Pass in three days at most."

Three days is really not a long time, and anything can happen within three days. Now Li Jiguang can only hope that the rebels will not launch any attacks within three days.

…

On the other hand, the rebels also had headaches about how to attack Jianmen Pass.

When it came time to really fight a tough battle, the rebel army's weaknesses began to be gradually exposed.

First of all, the family's financial resources were poor, and the lack of siege equipment became the biggest problem for the rebels. After all, they were all farmers, and they were good at farming. Basically, few of them knew how to make siege equipment.

Moreover, now that all the craftsmen in Shu have been transferred to shipbuilding by Li Shun, who can produce siege equipment for the rebels here in a short time?

Then the difference between farmers and the regular army began to become prominent. Since the Song Dynasty implemented a recruitment system and the army was basically professional, farmers no longer received the training of soldiers and farmers and devoted themselves to farming.

Therefore, the farmers at this time did not have the extraordinary combat effectiveness as the previous generations, at best they were just stronger.

Although the previous battles had been successful, when faced with actions that required considerable military training to complete, the weakness of the peasants' weak foundation was infinitely magnified, such as the two attacks on Jianmen Pass.

In addition, as the fear caused by the large number of casualties began to spread, the morale of the rebel army was declining at an alarming rate.

"Old Zhang, we can't delay it any longer. If we delay it any longer, it's likely that the troops sent by the imperial court to suppress us will arrive. By then, the soldiers will look like this."

Although he didn't know the situation in the outside world, Wang Cormorant had already had a premonition that reinforcements from the imperial court were coming soon.

"I know, but you saw it the last two times. Our people died so miserably, but we still couldn't defeat them. If there is no new way, if we attack again, our brothers will die."

The biggest reason why Zhang Yu hesitated was that he didn't know that Jianmen Pass could not hold on for too long. In his eyes, the cost of attacking Jianmen Pass was too high. This kind of cost to his brothers was in vain.

He cannot commit suicide.

"A way, a way, I wish I had a way."

While the two were still struggling with how to siege the city, an old man suddenly appeared at the door of the military camp where the rebel army was stationed, saying that he had an important siege method that he wanted to dedicate to the two of them.

There was an old man who could conquer Jianmen Pass, which was so painful to everyone. This made both of them extremely curious, so the old man was invited in.

And his method also gave the two men new hope in capturing Jianmen Pass.
Chapter completed!